The Shadow of Konoha
by K-Dogg-Lynn
Summary: After a life changing situation, the bonds of friendship and loved are tested in the most extreme of ways. For some like Sakura, things will never be the same again. Naruto shuts down when he returns from training to find his former teammate has disappeared. Things only become more difficult when the youngest Uchiha returns, only to help locate and bring back Sakura Haruno.
1. Chapter 1: The Failed Mission

When Naruto Uzumaki finally awoke the only thing he remembered was his best friend walking away from him. All the wounds he sustained were nothing compared to the guilty pain he was feeling in his heart.

Looking around the room Naruto saw that flowers were sitting in a vase, a simple card leaned against it. He grimaced from the soreness when he reached out for the card. Naruto was about to open it when he saw that someone was now standing in the doorway of his room.

"You're finally awake, you had me worried there for a bit."

Sakura Haruno was smiling at him, it was obvious that she had been crying, her jade eyes seemed brighter than usual.

"How are you feeling?"

She moved across the room and stopped at the foot of his bed. Naruto could now see the dark circles under her eyes from the sleepless nights she'd had and even hear the tiredness in her voice. Seeing her like this only made him feel even more guilty.

"Sakura I – "

"It's alright Naruto, I know," she gave him another smile. Her eyes watering as she said, "You tried your best, that's all that matters."

Images of happier times flashed through his mind's eye and Naruto had too look away from her. Seeing that sad gleam in his eyes repeated over and over exactly what he had lost in failing to bring his best friend back to Konoha.

"C-Can I just be left alone for now, Sakura?"

Naruto didn't turn to look at her when she placed something on the table beside his bed before leaving, closing the door quietly behind her. Looking back to confirm that she was gone he saw what she had left behind and his heart quickened. It was a forehead protector with the Leaf emblom crossed out. He recognized it at once as Sasuke's. Naruto himself watched him use the kunai to cross out the symbol, it was his way of cutting ties to those back home.

"Maybe I couldn't stop him this time, but I will definitally bring you back Sasuke," tears fell down his whiskered face, "Believe it, Sasuke."

Outside the door to Naruto's hospital room stood Sakura. Tears falling down her cheeks too and she dropped to the ground. Outside of her teammates hospital room she let the sobs she was trying to hold inside out.

A couple more days had gone by before Naruto was released from the hospital. Almost all of his injuries had healed up, thanks to the Kyuubi, but the usually energetic blond was not bouncing all over the streets of Konoha. Instead Naruto had elected to holding up in his room with week old milk and packaged ramen noodles.

He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do now. Tracking down Sasuke as he is was pointless, he wouldn't be able to bring him back to Konoha by himself and all his friends were still in the hospital recovering. Another thing to add to his guilty list.

"So this is where you live, it's nice," Naruto whipped around, ready to throw his bowl of ramen at the intruder. His gaze narrowed at the very large ape like man leaning against the wall.

"Master Jiraiya! What are you doing here?!" he lowered his ramen bowl only slightly, low enough so he could slurp a little from it but still was a feasible weapon if need be.

Jiraiya chuckled and crossed the room to sit at the table across from Naruto.

"I'm here to make you an offer, one you really won't want to refuse."

"Oh yeah?" asked Naruto suspiciously, "And what's that?"

"Kakashi and I have discussed that you could use a little more training. I have gotten permission from Tsunade to take you with me tomorrow when I leave the village," explained Jiraiya. "The training would let you expand your personal chakra and you wouldn't have to rely on the Kyuubi's… like you are now."

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to say to this. He knew turning down an offer like this would prove that he was an idiot. There was only one thing that was holding back his agreement and Jiraiya seemed to guess this because he next said.

"You don't need to worry about Sakura, she's going to be just fine," he placed a small list on the table, "These are the things you will need to pack, everything else you'll leave behind. Me asking you is just out of politeness, there is really no option in this Naruto. You are coming with me and you are going to be given neccisary training."

"But what about Sakura-chan, I can't just leave and not tell her!" argued Naruto.

"Like I said, she's going to be fine. You cannot tell her what you're doing. Telling Sakura could put her at risk because she'd know where you've left. If Akatsuki were to come back looking for you she's going to be the first one they look for with information on you."

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms.

"I can protect Sakura just fine," he pouted.

Jiraiya leaned forward and replied, "Just like you were able to keep your friends safe and bring Sasuke back?"

It was a low blow and the sannin knew it, but he also didn't exactly care. He had heard the chatter, Akatsuki was coming for a second attack on Konoha and their shinobi had barely survived the last attack from them.

"We leave tomorrow morning, you best start packing soon."

Jiraiya left Naruto to think about what was about to happen. He had life experience that Naruto did not and he completely understood the conflicted emotions that Naruto was now dealing with. The fact that he couldn't tell his only teammate where he was going and why or for how long would eat him up inside until he got back. But what Naruto did not know was that while they were away, Sakura would be doing training of her very own.

It had been brought to Tsunade's attention by Kakashi that Sakura has very precise chakra control and he suggested medical training for her. It wasn't uncommon for kunoichi to go into the medical field, but what Kakashi had suggested was that Tsunade herself train Sakura and train her much like she had with Shizune.


	2. Chapter 2: Expected on a Thursday

**Three Years Later**

The wind whipped the dark cloak around him, it was a cool fall evening and he could tell that winter was fast approaching and it wouldn't be long before snow was falling.

"We've got camp set up, Karin should be finished with the fish in a few minutes."

The cloaked teen nodded and the other returned to the small campsite they had set up.

Glancing back at the three who were laughing around the fire he easily pulled his dark onyx eyes away and returned to looking over the mountainside. Their travels had taken them to the land of snow, a place that he hadn't been too in a very long time. Memories of his genin years flickered across his mind as they'd made their way through the mountains.

"Sasuke-kun, don't let your food get cold!" cried out the woman named Karen. Her choppy red hair stuck out strangely beneath her lavender cap.

"Hn."

He returned to the group, taking the seat beside Jugo instead of next to Karin. He had found her to be quite annoying, she continued to flirt with him day in and out, despite making it very obvious that she was not interested in her. Not in the very least. It was true he wanted to restore his clan but Karin definitely was not the right woman for the job.

"So what are we doing here in a place with so much frozen water?" asked Suigetsu.

Another member of the group, he had sharp shark like teeth and gray-white hair that hung flat around his head. He also wore a thick winters traveling cloak, but unlike Karen and Jugo who were handling the cold very well, Suigetsu shivered madly.

"Hn."

"God Suigetsu! If Sasuke-kun doesn't want to tell us then he doesn't have too!" barked Karin.

Sasuke abruptly got to his feet and entered his own tent, barely touching his fish. Karin frowned after him and called out but Sasuke ignored her and zipped it shut. He had had enough of Karin and Suigetsu arguing for one night and was just going to turn in early.

Reaching for his pack Sasuke frowned when he saw that part of his bag was wet, some snow must have gotten inside. Quickly he pulled the items out and silently pulled out the small frame he carried at the bottom of the bag. The photo was undamaged, but the glass was still cracked.

 _'Have you gotten any stronger?'_ he thought to himself, his eyes were staring at Naruto Uzumaki. Cerulean eyes gleaming back at him as if asking him the same question.

* * *

"Ready to go?"

The blonde teenage looked up from the stream he had just been dunking his head in and grinned. His whiskers sticking out even more so now against his tanned face.

"Is it finally time? Are we really heading back home?"

Jiraiya grinned back, nodding. He said, "We're finally taking you back home. The rest of your training will be on your shoulders, I've taught you all that I can for now."

Naruto Uzumaki was practically bouncing with joy at this. Ever since they had left Konoha three years ago he had been waiting to return, stronger and better than ever. He was ready to see how much everyone else had changed too.

"Do you think Sakura will be happy to see me?" Naruto suddenly asked nervously.

"Of course, I'm sure she's been waiting for this day just as much as you have," laughed Jiraiya.

He kept his tone light and upbeat, but that truth of the matter was that every time he had asked about how Sakura was doing, Tsunade didn't say anything about her. He wasn't sure if that was because she didn't want Naruto distracted from training or if there was something that had happened and she couldn't disclose what exactly that was.

"Come on, it's a long journey back to the Land of Fire."

* * *

"Haruno-san what tests did you want me to run again?"

Looking up from the small mound of paperwork, the pink haired kunoichi gave the nurse an annoyed look.

"It's just the normal blood tests, I want to see if there is anything strange in his blood that would cause a discoloration like that," she said, "Cuts don't normally turn green like this."

"Hai!"

Looking back down at her desk she saw from the corner of her eye the old photo from three years ago. Things had been so different back then, when she was a part of a team. Now she was part of a different team and even though she loved what she did… it was not the same.

"Screw it, I can't concentrate tonight," she said, getting to her feet.

On the other side of the room sat a dark haired woman only a few years old than herself. She turned in her chair to face the pinkette and crossed her arms.

"Calling it early tonight?"

"You don't mind, do you Shizune?"

The brunette smiled and shook her head. "Of course not, go home Sakura. You look like you could use the rest."

Huffing with annoyance Sakura laid her coat across the back of her own chair and made way for the door.

"You're not going home right now, are you?"

Sakura waved over her should in farewell and closed the door behind her without answering the question. Pulling the hooded sweatshirt she'd brought with Sakura hurried down the street towards a much more vacated part of Konoha.

On Thursday evenings she always went to the Uchiha District. She'd made it a habit almost three years ago, it was a way to remind her of what she was working towards.

It took Sakura about twenty minutes to get to the Uchiha District from the hospital.

#

Darkness had fallen when Sakura was ready to head home. She wasn't sure how long she'd been there this time, but it wasn't like someone was going to chase her off… nobody was here.

"… your plan is full proof, Sir…"

"Yess… everything is righttt here… exxxcellent."

That hissing voice came from a nearby home. 'Who would be here this late at night?' Sakura thought to herself, only to be reminded of the tiny fact that she herself stood in the middle of the compound.

"The Uchiha Bloodline if flawed, their eyes go bad so quickly… if only we had an experiment that was more adept… more advanced."

Warning sirens were going off inside Sakura's head now. Whomever was here in the compound was after Uchiha secrets and they were finding them! Anger flared in the pit of her stomach and Sakura melted into the shadows. Creeping slowly she peered inside different homes until finally she found the source of the voices.

What appeared to be two men, one much taller than the other, was standing with his back to the window. The other man was leaning over a table reading something by what little light filtered in through cracks in the ceiling.

"I understand that it belonged to Shisui Uchiha, once a great shinobi of the Uchiha Clan. Died prior to the Uchiha Massacre from drowning in the Naka River, the body was recovered and both eyes were missing. It was believed, although never proven, that Itachi Uchiha has been the culprit behind this murderous act," he read aloud.

Finally he turned and round glasses glinted in the dim light, Sakura let out a small but audible gasp of shock. Kabuto Yakushi, a well-known follower of Orochimaru.

"Ssshhh…" hissed the seated man, "It would appear we have a guest!"

Cursing silently Sakura turned and sprinted as quietly as possible down a side alleyway. Her first thought was to go and find Naruto, but she quickly shoved that out of the way as he was no longer in the village. Sakura hurried down another side street and quickly skidded to a halt, hand flying into her pouch to withdraw a kunai.

"What do we have here?" questioned Kabuto, grinning slyly at her.

Somehow the white haired man had managed to cut her off, he knew she knew that she was trapped because Sakura was taking a fighting stance. Her expression hardened as she starred down her enemy.

"It is quite lucky we've run into you, Sakura Haruno."

A little surprised he knew her name, she asked, "And why is that?"

"Becausssse little girl, with you being a disciple of my dear old teammate Tsunade, it makes you're the perfect test subject for my newest experiment."

Her blood ran cold as she whipped around to face the legendary snake sannin Orochimaru. Sakura backed towards the building beside here, she was trapped on either side and in such small quarters her fighting was severely limited.

"Relax little girl, we don'tt wantt to hurt you," cooed Orochimaru, "We just want to make you sssstronger. Make you better."

"I can do that on my own, thanks," she replied dryly.

Orochimaru hissed with humor, Kabuto chucked slightly.

"Let me explain what we are going to do, little girl. Come with me, peacefully," his voice was hard as he said 'peacefully' which meant that he wanted to bring Sakura somewhere unharmed. He seemed to know what she was thinking too and in an instant Sakura found herself completely bound by a scaly hissing rope.

"S-Snake!" she practically screamed.

The reptile bore its fangs and Sakura was frozen to the spot. It wasn't that she was exactly scared of snakes, it's just that they brought up very bad memories that she would rather keep buried in the back of her mind. Especially since these memories did involve the two men on either side of her.

"There, that's a good girl," Kabuto flickered behind Sakura and in one swift movement jabbed a long needle into the side of her neck.

Catching her before she dropped, Kabuto lifted Sakura up like a bride and silently followed his snake master. Disappearing into the night with the unconscious Sakura Haruno and no traces that they had ever been there.


	3. Chapter 3: Unforeseen Rescuer

Steady rain beat against the window of the large library. It was dimly lit and cast large shadows across the two stories of this elegant room. Two men stood across from a hand carved mahogany desk, one fiddling with the handle of a gigantic sword that was strapped to his back.

Kisame Hoshigaki was one of the members of the notorious organization known as Akatsuki. He stood roughly at seven feet tall with tinted blue skin and very sharp shark like teeth. The shorter man that stood beside him was Itachi Uchiha, the elder of the two only living Uchiha left. His crimson sharingan eyes bore into the man seated at the desk across from them.

"So you still have not located the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi or Gyuki?" asked a man completely hidden by the shadows. His ringed eyes the only thing visible on him.

"He's been under the protective custody of the sannin Jiraiya for these past three years," Kisame said. "It wasn't exactly like he was making it easy to track them down."

"And what of your brother, is he still making things difficult?" asked a different voice.

A female stepped into the light and leaned against the front of the desk. Her gray eyes flickered between the two Akatsuki partners. She had her royal blue hair pulled up into a tight bun, adorn with its usual origami rose.

"He is not been a concern, he also has fallen off of our radar," answered Itachi.

He made it quite obvious in his tone that his brother was not a topic that he wanted to discuss, much less with these two.

"Very well, if he becomes an issue however," she looked Itachi square in the eyes unafraid of the sharingan, "Then you will have to dispose of him. We do not want any more problems stopping us from achieving our goals."

"Hn."

The man behind the desk leaned forward, but was still kept in the shadows.

"Leader-sama has decided to assign you a new mission, one to work on while you are waiting for the jinchuuriki to show itself again."

Kisame perked up eagerly. "And what is that?"

"We have received Intel that Orochimaru has abducted a ninja from leave and is performing experiments on them."

He met Konan's gaze and she continued for him, "The source told us that Orochimaru somehow has gotten a set of perfect sharingan eyes, they do not know how or for what purpose. Our only concern is to either destroy those eyes or to eliminate the shinobi that he is experimenting on. His projects have been a hindrance to us in the past and we do not want to have any more issues."

"How in the hell did that snake freak get his hands on sharingan's?" demanded Kisame, clearly shocked by this. "The only ones with those eyes are you and the runt, right?"

Itachi stayed silent. In his head he was trying to think of any way that the bodies of the Uchiha Clan could have still had their eyes, all the bodies had been cremated. All of his clans eyes should have been destroyed.

"We are not concerned with the how or the why," said Leader, voice cutting through the tension, "All I want is this person, whoever they may be to be eliminated as a threat. I don't care how, just get it done. Don't report back until you've finished with your mission."

Understanding themselves to be dismissed, Kisame reattached his sword to his back and turned to leave. Itachi followed behind him saying nothing.

 _'Could this be why there has been no news of my brother for the past three years?'_

* * *

Seated behind her desk was Konoha's Hokage the Godaime Tsunade and next to her stood one of her apprentices Shizune. The bottle of sake she always had on her desk had been finished hours ago, so frustrated with the current situation that she hadn't thought to have Shizune retrieve more.

"How a week gone by and no one has heard a single word?" she practically shouted, "How is this even possible?"

Shizune glanced across the room nervously at the pair of men across from them. On the left stood the infamous Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, most recognizable by his silvery gravity defying hair. On the right was one of Konoha's Tokubetsu Jōnin, Genma Shiranui. He was chewing on a senborn like usual and he always wore a bandana around his head.

"Is it possible she maybe went on a vacation and you two forgotten?" asked Genma.

"What are you implying?" snapped Shizune, "That we don't know how to do our jobs?"

Genma was a little taken aback, stating, "I just meant that maybe the request got mixed up with all these papers. The desk is piled high with missions and reports."

Glancing at his friend for support Genma was surprised to see that Kakashi looked equally irritated about this. He knew that she was once under Kakashi's leadership but that hadn't been for years and to the best of his knowledge, Kakashi hadn't really seen Sakura anywhere other than in passing.

"Sakura doesn't just ' _take vacations_ '," muttered Shizune. She gave Genma a dark look and crossed her arms.

"When was the last time anyone had spoken to her?" asked Kakashi.

Shizune frowned a little. "I saw her Thursday, late afternoon. She was stressed out and having trouble focusing. Sakura always leaves early on Thursday's anyway so I didn't think anything of it."

"Why?" asked Genma.

Kakashi shook his head.

Tsunade leaned forward with her head in her hands.

"Could you sweep the Uchiha Compound, try and pick up her scent?" she asked anxiously. Her blue eyes met with Kakashi's and he nodded. "Find her and bring her back home."

"I'll go speak with Kotetsu and Izumo at the gates then, maybe they saw someone suspicious enter Konoha."

"Yes, go, report back to me in one hour."

Kakashi and Genma left together, Kakashi closed the door quietly behind him and they headed down the hallway towards the stairs. He knew that Genma was waiting to ask something but he was waiting until they were out of earshot of the Hokage's office.

"So why does she leave early from the hospital on Thursdays?"

"That's when she goes to clean Naruto's apartment and then takes care of the Uchiha compound."

Genma grimaced. "That girls heart is too big sometimes."

Kakashi didn't say anything else.

#

In the Uchiha Compound there were about ten togs running around in ninja gear sniffing and searching. Kakashi was also looking around for any trace of his former student.

"Pakkun, anything?"

A small pug leapt over to him with a grim expression. "I have Urushi and Shiba following a lead, but it's very thin."

Kakashi rubbed his one visible eye.

"Her scent isn't anywhere around here, it's just lingering traces from a long time ago," agreed Kakashi.

The largest dog came bounding up to them with something small hanging from his mouth, something red. They rushed over to him at once, Kakashi asking, "Bull, where did you find this?!"

He woofed once and lead them over to a small building. Here, this was what he'd been expecting to find, some kind of struggle. Kakashi almost felt relieved when they arrived at the scene. Here was the indication that Sakura had fought against something and didn't just leave of her own free will. Just the idea that she'd left Konoha too scared him, especially because this was Sakura that they were talking about, she loved Konoha!

"That scent is here too, the one Urushi and Shiba are tracking down," observed Pakkun uncertainly, "I've only smelled it a few times, almost three years ago during those Chunin exams."

Kakashi paled.

"We need to find her."

* * *

Arguing was heard along the path of four cloaked travelers. One was very large, his bare feet could be seen beneath his cloak that only reached to mid-calf. He walked just behind the shoulder of the figure leading them, acting almost like a body guard of sorts. A little farther back was the pair that was arguing.

"Karin! Would you just give it a rest already?!"

She groaned in frustration and swung her fist, the man she'd been arguing with's head splashed into water before reforming to make the head a sharp-toothed white haired man. Who looked less than pleased with her.

"I do not care what you think Suigetsu! You are so annoying!"

The silent two in front remained silent. It wasn't unusual for those two to argue like this, Jugo had a suspicion that Suigetsu had a crush on the red-haired woman with them but he was not about to be sharing that theory with anyone.

"Hn."

The large man, Jugo, glanced down at him, "What is it Sasuke?"

"You three, stay here."

Jumping up into the trees Sasuke hurried in the direction of the chakra signature he felt. It was like an electric shock and he wanted to be sure that it was who he thought it was, especially being so deep in grass country.

He had gone about 20 minutes west and stopped on a low branch. He masked his chakra and she was oblivious to his presence. Sasuke stared at her with a mixture of anger and confusion.

It was in fact Sakura Haruno. She was not dressed in her usual kunoichi attire, she wore thin linin pants and t-shirt, and the clothes were torn and splattered with mud and grime. Her usually bright hair was matted and caked with dirt, also unlike her. Sasuke could see that she appeared to have no weapons on her as well. That sent off an alarming red flag for him.

 _'What is going on?'_ he wondered silently. Suddenly remembering that Sakura was a genjutsu specialist he activated his Sharingan, there was no genjutsu. That really was Sakura below him, bleeding and exhausted.

"You can run, but you cannot hide," called the drawing voice of Kabuto.

Sakura cursed and tried to run farther, but she had clearly reached her limit. He watched the anger cross her face before turning to fear, she looked like a cornered animal.

Making his mind up, he did a couple of quick hand-signs, the static of his own genjutsu spreading over the area around them before dropping down before her. He knew Kabuto would be able to dispel the jutsu once he'd realize it was cast but until then that would buy Sasuke a little time… he could get Sakura out of here at least.

"Who are _you_?!" demanded Sakura. A note of ' _I don't need your help_ ' in her voice.

Sasuke smirked and turned around, her stunned expression and momentary freeze let Sasuke sweep Sakura off of her feet and he carried her bridal style away in the direction of Konoha. He could feel her shivering against him, from fear or cold he didn't know.

"Put me down," she managed.

He could see her bloodshot eyes not daring to look at him.

"Please just put me down," she asked again, "And go away. I can handle this myself."

Ignoring her, Sasuke pushed himself faster, feeling the genjutsu having been broken.

"No."

This close Sasuke could see the scabs on her face, identical ones on either side of her eyes.

"Why are you here?"

She glared at him with glassy eyes. Sasuke didn't look down but he could feel her fists tighten as he clung to his cloak, she hissed, "I was your surprise."

From her dark expression Sasuke knew instantly that it had been Orochimaru's doing. They were close to the border now; sensory-nin would be able to pick up both their chakra signatures. Sakura knew this too because she was giving him a strange look. A mixture of worry and hope.

"I'm sorry… Sakura…"

She slumped against his chest completely; he chose a secluded spot and leaned her against a tree before pulling a blanket from his own pack and wrapping it securely around her. Sasuke leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair from her face and felt a pang of guilt in his chest from having to leave her a second time alone like this.

"Keep yourself safe, Sakura."

Without another word he turned and leapt into the trees to rejoin his teammates, thinking about what he'd just done.


	4. Chapter 4: Shisui Uchiha

Exactly one week had gone by and Sakura was feeling very self-conscious about her situation. She didn't exactly remember what had happened to her, more than likely she had blocked it deep inside her memories, not even Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka, could access them and he's head of the interrogation force. Meaning that Sakura would not be cleared for hospital duty or active duty until her physician, the Godaime herself, gave her the okay.

Sitting around her house bored was not helping Sakura at all in remembering. All she kept seeing was Orochimaru over her and w white-hot pain that nothing she'd ever experienced compared to.

Rolling over to her side Sakura got up from the floor and made way to the bathroom. Maybe a nice hot shower would do the trick.

Standing in the water she could see flashes of trees… someone carrying her to safety… fear and confusion at the thought of being caught. Without noticing it she had begun to cry, Sakura knew who had rescued her from Kabuto and she could hear him telling her he was sorry. _'Sasuke was sorry.'_

Anger, resentment, even fear, swirled in her stomach. How was she supposed to tell anyone about this, Sasuke obviously didn't want to be seen, especially by members of his former team. Sakura wondered why he didn't kill her instead of save her. What were his reasons? What were his motives?

She grabbed her towel and got out of the shower, wiping her eyes free of any remaining tears. Wiping away steam from her mirror she froze. The familiar pink hair, pale skin, and… and dark crimson eyes.

"HOLY CRAP!"

Hurrying from her bathroom Sakura ran to the mirror on her dresser and cursed again. It wasn't an illusion, she wasn't hallucinating either, and those really were her eyes.

"In the compound, he said that they'd found Shisui's eyes," she said to her reflection, "They – they implanted them into mine!"

Shaking madly Sakura dropped onto her bed. She finally knew what Orochimaru had done to her. Sakura had become one of his experiments, just like Sasuke did during the Chunin exams. Glaring at the photo beside her bed Sakura met the onyx eyes of the youngest living Uchiha.

"I will not go to him, I am not his to analyze."

Sakura continued to stare at the photo of Sasuke. Asking him, "Was this because of you? Was it because we used to be teammates that he picked me?"

Should I tell Lady Tsunade? Kakashi? Who can help me? What am I supposed to do?

Exasperatedly she fell backwards and closed her eyes. It wasn't sleep that consumed her though, instead of hitting the soft comforter she fell right through and flopped ungracefully into two inches of water.

For a fraction of a second she wondered if she'd been teleported somehow back to Orochimaru, but then she saw a boy that appeared to be in his early twenties sitting on the water. His resemblance to Sasuke was uncanny, having short unkempt black hair, black eyes, a relatively broad nose and well-defined eyelashes that were turned upwards towards the sky. He also wore a high-collared, black shirt along with a tantō strapped to the right side of the back of his shoulder.

"I've been expecting you, Sakura Haruno…"

Swallowing down the lump in her throat Sakura got to her feet and moved towards the man.

"I am Shisui Uchiha and I believe those are my eyes you are using."

She twitched, almost smirking.

"Please, have a seat," he gestured to a small table set with two chairs, "There is much for us to talk about."

Obediently Sakura took a seat and Shisui took the one opposite her. He smiled kindly at her, looking just as lost as she was feeling.

"Why are you here?"

"From what I understand, it's because of Orochimaru implanting them into you. The remaining traces of my chakra that were still in the eyes have not mixed with your chakra. I am here because my chakra is still here."

"That's just wonderful," muttered Sakura. She began to rub her temples, "First I have an inner voice of the things I cannot say, now I have a deceased Uchiha in my head."

Shisui reached out his hand and rubbed Sakura's arm reassuringly. His smile was warm, it wasn't anything like the smirk she'd seen Sasuke make, this was different.

"We'll get through this together, I am just as confused as you are."

Looking from his hand comfortingly on her arm to his face Sakura felt an odd sensation in her chest. She asked almost, whispered, "Uchiha-san.. you do know that you are dead?"

His beautiful onyx eyes flashed darkly and Sakura again felt the pull in her chest. She looked down at the table and watched in horror as the young man before her removed his own eyes and handed them to a very young boy. She covered her mouth when she realized it was a young Itachi Uchiha, barely older than fourteen.

"I had committed suicide in the hopes that my death would prevent a war," he explained, pictures and writings on Itachi flashed across the surface of the table. "From what I understand now, my choice caused him great problems."

Shisui looked up at Sakura now, "I looked into your memories, I saw what Itachi had done. I saw what happened to his brother as well."

She swallowed again. There was still a lump in her throat and Sakura wasn't sure how to respond. It was true. After Sasuke had left and she'd become apprentice to the Hokage, Sakura had begun to research everything she could on the two last living Uchiha. She had read that Itachi was suspected of killing this man before her, but there was no proof. He was never convicted, nonetheless he'd been watched very closely afterwards.

"You're knowledge on them is quite impressive, I must admit," complimented Shisui.

He smiled kindly at her, Sakura felt herself blush. No one had ever looked at her that way.

"You're nothing like your cousins…"

Shisui took her hands in his now, Sakura had to remind herself that he was just a memory of chakra. "Don't hold their actions against them, the Uchiha that you know are all cold and emotionless, but… on the inside… their love is what caused them to become – "

"Monsters?" she suggested. Her tone made it quite clear what she currently thought of the living ones she knew.

Without realizing what she'd done with her sudden flair of emotion. Images flashed across the table again, this time they were Sakura's memories. She watched as Itachi nearly killed his own brother before trying to capture Naruto. How he had attacked and almost killed Kakashi as well.

Her eyes watered unwillingly as she saw herself pleading for Sasuke to stay or at least to take her with him. Telling him he didn't have to be alone.

"… yeah he did that for love."

"I think it was."

Teenaged Sasuke rescuing Sakura from Kabuto, bringing her as far as he possibly could. Getting her as far as possible from Grass. Apologizing to the unconscious girl and leaving her wrapped in his own blanket.

"Enough!"

She slammed her hand on the table and it crumbled to the ground. Sakura looked up sheepishly at Shisui who was blatantly looking between the remains of the metal table and the pink haired girl before him. She scratched the back of her head.

"Uhm, my bad."

Shisui picked up a leg and gave her a look that said ' _seriously?_ ' before bursting out laughing.

"You remind me of another of my cousins," he chuckled. "The guy was on team with this silver-haired weird-o and a very sweet dark haired girl."

Wiping a tear from him eye Shisui leaned back and crossed his arms.

"We've gotten so off topic, what I wanted to talk about was what you're going to do next? You now possess the Sharingan eyes and you have no training whatsoever. You also are not an Uchiha, which means you don't have the genetic disposition and instincts either."

She found herself wanting to smack this Shisui upside the head, he seemed to be insulting her rather than helping her. He seemed to pick up on this and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound as demeaning as it came out," he gave her a sheepish look.

He leaned back against the chair and brought his leg up onto his knee. "I only meant that for you to have already activated it, even with some of my help, it's very impressive. Especially since you haven't passed out yet. What type of shinobi are you?"

At this she was taken aback, what did he mean? She was quite obviously a kunoichi of Konoha, she was also a chunin… she'd been trained personally by the Godaime… that's it!

"I'm a medical ninja. I have excellent chakra control, I can send exactly what I need to whatever part of my body. It doesn't matter if it's for healing or fighting, that's why I have such good stamina, I'm not wasting any chakra," Shisui nodded at her. That seemed to make sense.

He added, "You are also a genjutsu specialist. I remember your mother. She was also gifted in genjutsu."

Sakura went rigid.

"I wouldn't know, she died when I was still young."

Shisui looked at his hands.

Sakura felt herself become lightheaded and gazed around dazedly. When she looked back at Shisui she could see a faint green glow around his body.

"It would appear you've almost reached your limit, Sakura. When you've decided what you'll do, come seek me out again," he grinned cheerfully at her, "Until next time."

He leaned forward just before fading and tapped her forehead with his index and middle finger. She blinked and when she reopened her eyes Sakura found herself lying on top of her plush comforter, starring wide eyed at the ceiling. Hesitantly she raised her hand and gently touched the placed Shisui had tapped her, a small smile turned up the corners of her lips.

' _Until next time_ ,' he had said.

 **#**

The following day Sakura had gone through the motions of visiting the hospital, only to be sent away. She had lunch with her best friend, a tall curvaceous blond with baby blue eyes named Ino Yamanaka. She was listening without really hearing what Ino had said the entire afternoon. By the late afternoon Sakura found herself walking towards the Uchiha Compound once again.

' _What will you do?_ ' she heard his voice ask her.

Looking at the old dusty window of a shop Sakura saw not her reflection, but Shisui's. He was walking beside her with his hands buried deep in his pockets. There was an almost smug expression on his face.

"No one knows," she said to no one. She was completely alone now.

Something flickered across her mind at that realization. No one knew about her eyes, no one knew she had the Sharingan infused with her own. All anyone else could see was her usual jade green, nothing special there.

And then not even Ino's father could see her memories of what had happened. He was head of the interrogation squad and he couldn't get past her block! _No one knew_!

Looking straight into the dusty window she smiled grimly at Shisui.

"There isn't anyone here who can help you, they won't know what to do," said the reflection of Shisui.

Sakura nodded, "Yes, for me to get the training I need, there is somewhere else I need to go. Someone else I need to find."

She looked up to the sky.

"Let's just hope that Akatsuki will hear me out."


	5. Chapter 5: The 'Mad-Bomber' of Akatsuki

At the entrance of Konoha an overly energetic flash of orange and black flew past the almost snoozing Kotetsu and Izumo. Both fell out of their chairs before looking up to see the legendary ape like sannin, Jiraiya, standing before them. He grinned down at them amusedly.

"Sorry boys, couldn't keep him from racing in," he admitted, "He's a little over excited, Naruto is."

The chunin pair glanced between each other grinning madly. They'd been informed that Naruto would be returning soon but the when was never disclosed. Probably because no one knew exactly when he would return.

"The Hokage is expecting you," said Kotetsu, leaning back in his chair.

"Good, we're heading there right now."

 **#**

Naruto hadn't bothered to knock and just barged into the Hokage's office. He was met by the startled faces of Shizune, Kakashi, Genma, and the Hokage herself – who looked less than happy – all of whom wore grim expressions.

"I'm back!" he beamed, not reading the room first.

Shizune managed a weak smile, "T-That's great! It's good to see you again, Naruto-san."

Kakashi looked to Tsunade saying, "We'll finish the mission report later then?"

Naruto, finally noticing the strange tension in the air, asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Shizune."

She looked at Genma and nodded, "We're just going to run a quick errand. We'll be back in a bit, Tsunade-sama!"

Jiraiya nodded politely at the pair and closed the door behind himself. He noticed instantly that something was amiss when he entered the room.

"What happened?"

The Hokage motioned for them to take a seat on the couch she had. She said, "Take a seat, there is something that cannot wait."

Kakashi pulled out a small scroll from his jonin vest and tossed it to Jiraiya. His expression paled, grunting every once in a while at what he saw.

"The best we can figure is she left four days ago," Kakashi frowned a little at Naruto. "The trail was strong, but she's also my student. She knew to run along water. The ninken wouldn't be able to track her that way."

"… but why would she…?"

Tsunade glanced at Naruto's confused face and her frowned only deepened.

"She must have a hell of a reason to just vanish like that… but I can't figure out what it would be. Since she left like this, it ties my hands, I have to report her as a missing-nin until we have more answers."

Naruto's frown only deepened. It sounded to him as if someone had left the village willingly. The person was female, but it wasn't surprising that Kakashi was here because of his ninken and Tsunade because she is the Hokage after all… but why were Shizune and Genma involved? Was it an older shinobi?

"Who went missing?" Naruto finally asked, interrupting Tsnade.

Kakashi couldn't bring himself to meet Naruto's gaze. He'd just returned home to the village. He was expecting to be greeted by his team soon. He was expecting to see _her_ soon.

"Sakura… Sakura had left."

Off in the distance, far across the dry and dusty plains of Wind Territory was Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand. It would take at least a day to travel across the dessert and with what little water she had left would not last across a dessert with little to no water.

Looking up at the sun she estimated at least two hours before nightfall, she would need to find somewhere to stay until then. This far away from Konoha meant that the lush green forests that surrounded it had shrunk down to barren wooded areas. There wasn't going to be any water here.

 **#**

Traveling at night proved to be the absolute worst idea that Sakura had even made, she'd completely forgotten about the temperatures on dessert plains when the sun was down and the moon was up… for the record, it's freezing. She shivered despite having on her extra layers. If she didn't care if she'd draw attention to herself she would have used her chakra to boost her metabolism so that she'd be warmer, but the fact of the matter was that Suna did not know she was coming. Nobody knew she was here and that was the way she wanted it.

It wasn't until sunrise that she'd reached the gates. Walking up to the gates, slightly winded, Sakura showed them her credentials and explained that she was here for a medical seminar with the Suna medic-nin. The centuries said nothing and allowed her entry, who would suspect that the apprentice to a Hokage would be lying?

Halfway through the village Sakura founder herself pulled into the shadows of a tall building. She'd already drawn her kunai to defend but met a familiar red-haired man pinning her against the wall. His deep gravelly voice less familiar than his face.

"Kazekage," she greeted quietly.

Gaara eyed her suspiciously, his light green eyes looking her over until they fell on the now visible scar at her neck.

"Sakura Haruno, it's been a while."

Stepping back Sakura rubbed her neck subconsciously, the old scar she'd received after the chunnin exams always tingled whenever she'd get close to Gaara and Shukaku.

"What are you doing here? My men tell me you are doing a medical seminar, but there is nothing scheduled."

"Is it illegal for allied forces to visit one another?" she asked innocently.

Gaara eyed her still more suspiciously.

Sakura looked at her feet. "I need your help, something has happened and… and I think you're one of the few people who could help me. You'll understand."

Grasping her arm firmly they teleported in a swirl of sand. A half-second later they were standing in the Kazekage's office. Leaning against the wall behind his desk was a large gord which Sakura knew to be full of sand.

"Why seek out my help, why have you not contacted your own teammate?"

She knew that he was referring to Naruto. If she was truthful with herself she would admit to being afraid of telling him. She knew Naruto, they'd been teammates after all, and he would blame himself for not being there to protect her.

She answered, "I don't really know, but what I do know is that Naruto trusts you which means that I can trust you."

Letting the weight of her words sink in Gaara truly assessed the woman standing before him. Her forest green sleeveless high collared shirt was dirty and covered in stains, her standard black shinobi pants were also torn in places and were covered in mud stains. Her bright jade eyes were much more dull than he remembered, her hair was dirty and uncombed. For whatever reasons she needed his help and it looked as if this was her last chance.

"Please go to this address," he quickly scribbled something on a slip of paper and handed it to Sakura, "Clean yourself up and take anything you will need to replenish your weaponry. I will be there later this evening with dinner. We can discuss this matter then."  
Sakura looked at the paper uncertainly.

"That is my own home, no one will bother you there," he reassured her.

After thanking the Kazekage she hurried out of the office and in the direction of the address.

Leaning back in his chair Gaara placed his head in his hand and wondered thoughtfully what would cause a leaf kunoichi to seek refuge here. She had claimed that it was because of Gaara's friendship with Naruto and that was why she contacted him, but Gaara didn't believe that was her only reason for venturing all the way out here. She was escaping something, perhaps even running from something? Had a crime been committed that he didn't know about?

Knowing that he would find out soon enough he picked up one of the many scrolls on his desk and read.

 **#**

When Gaara arrived at his home he was a little surprised to find that the pink haired kunoichi had fallen asleep at his little kitchen table. Her head rested in her arms and she had drooled slightly. He noted that she did at least look cleaner, having showered and properly brushed her hair.

After a moment she stirred and raised her head sleepily, blinking a couple of times she seemed to notice that she was no longer alone and leapt to her feet defensively. A kunai in hand she looked like a cornered animal. That was when Gaara saw it.

"Your eyes?!"

She blinked again and they returned to their jade green color. Her gaze dropped down to the floor shamefully.

"You possess the Sharingan now?" he asked, sounding a little more accusatory than intended.

Sakura nodded, "Yes."

Gaara watched her every movement, he could feel her fear of the man Orochimaru and her fear of what her friends would think if they found out. She told him everything that had happened up to now. He remained silent until she finished then stayed silent a little while longer trying to think of what to say. Her tone told him that she wasn't seeking sympathy or an apology from him; she was looking for something else.

"What will be your next move? You know it won't be long before Konoha sends forces to search for you here in Suna, this would be the safest place other than Konoha itself."

"I know."

Her eyes met his, "I'm going to seek out Akatsuki."

He rubbed his ears as if he thought he'd heard her wrong.

"What did you say?"

"I'm going to seek out Akatsuki."

Gaara frowned. Losing some of his composure he got to his feet and began to pace the floor.

"Please, you have to listen – "

"I will listen," he admitted, trying to keep his tone indifferent, "That group – those people - they are hunting down all nine jinchuuriki. Myself and _Naruto_ , they want the beasts inside of us. So be warned, if you truly intend to join them then I will be forced to arrest you and return you to Konoha has a prisoner."

Sakura's plan was extremely complicated and had so many holes in it that it wasn't really more than just an idea. Everything hindered on whether or not Akatsuki would agree to stop coming after the jinchuuriki. The second biggest flaw was them letting her join in the first place, Gaara meant no offense to Sakura herself but she was not exactly monstrous like the others.

"This will more than likely get me killed, but I have to try…" she met his cold gaze, "If it works, your village would be safe for a very long time."

"If I agree to this, if I agree to trust _you_ – "

Gaara never got to finish his sentence, the sound of alarms sounding drown out his voice. Both moved reflexively to their weapons, Gaara watched her pull a long emerald scarf from her pack and wrapped it around the lower half of her face. He thought momentarily of the Leaf's Copy-nin and how he had always covered the lower half of his face.

Hurrying to the roof of the Kazekage's home they were quickly joined by a man she recognized to be Kankuro, Gaara's older brother.

"What is it?" asked Gaara, entering full Kazekage mode.

Kankuro gave a faint nod to Sakura who returned it before answering, "Akatsuki. From the Intel we've received it's the 'Mad-Bomber' and his partner."

Startled by the irony of the situation Gaara looked down at Sakura. A silent and tense conversation passed between them. No doubt the Kazekage was wondering if she had potentially lead them here as some kind of ruse. But her concern seemed genuine and she looked ready to defend.

"I too will fight," she said, answering the silent question.

Kankuro eyed her suspiciously. "When did you get here again?"

Gaara shook his head.

"Now is not the time, Sakura, if you are genuine in your goal then this may be your only chance."

They shared a meaningful look, Sakura reached out and was about to grab Gaara's arm when the ground beneath them crumbled. If Gaara hadn't used his sand to catch them they would have been burned to a crisp in the explosion.

Gaara turned to Kankuro, "Evacuate the entire city."

High above them the Akatsuki member known as the 'Mad-Bomber' was circling overheard. Sakura caught a glimpse of his straw-hat and the cloak all members wore, black with red clouds. Unfortunately not much was known about these two Akatsuki members, neither Konoha or Suna had dealt with any of them other than Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

"What will you do? They're after you, you should escape now as well," argued Kankuro.

Gaara rose to his full height. A slight breeze rippled through his hair and he gave a small sad smile. "No, it is my job as this village's Kazekage to protect my people. Even if that means I go down fighting."

Kankuro gave Sakura meaningful look before leaping away to begin the evacuation of the village. Raising his other hand Sakura watched in awe as sand moved with such precision and shot at the Akatsuki member. From their height she watched him maneuver the bird with such accuracy and still could detonate bombs.

"He's fast," assessed Sakura. Both men here were long range fighters, unlike herself whose specialty was close combat.

"I have an idea," she began. The bird dove towards the ground again and Gaara easily blocked the explosives he'd dropped, "Let me leap onto the sand and I just need to get close enough. If I could get on that bird we'd have him."

Gaara frowned.

"That sounds like something Naruto would do…"

Sakura didn't wait for her response however, the Akatsuki member dive bombed them and Sakura reached, grabbing onto the tail feathers. The realized that the bird was made of clay, it was almost squishy beneath her gloved fingers. She pulled herself up and immediately ducked to avoid his punch. He looked more amused than alarmed that she had gotten onto the bird with him.

The wind whipped around them and she was thankful for the scarf she'd put on. Moving forward she used all the speed she could get from her chakra enhanced legs and kicked. Her opponent was surprised she'd just come right at him, even though he'd blocked the kick with his own leg she heard him grunt with pain.

"If you play nice, I'll maybe let you live," he called to her.

Letting out a cold laugh she blocked his own fist, blocking as many as she could, but not all. She wasn't sure when she'd drawn out her kunai but it was effective enough, she was disappointed that he was so well trained with close range as well.

"You seem particularly malicious towards me, have we met before?" he noted cheekily. She deduced that he was just playing around with her, his interests in her were small and he really had come for Gaara below.

"You wish," she snarled back.

She managed to knock the straw hat from his head and saw his whole face. His icy blue almond shaped eyes and pale blond hair that covered half his face, she would never have guessed him to be this young, maybe only a few years older than herself.

Feeling annoyed at his underestimation of her Sakura lunged forward again, but instead of blocking his fist she ducked. She wrapped her arm around him and they both fell from the clay bird. The blond groaned out when they hit the rooftop she'd aimed for, he realized then that she had probably timed in just right so they wouldn't be killed by the fall itself. Although it seemed to have backfired as she swayed when she got to her feet, clearly winded.

Not wanting to give her a chance to recover he moved so fast and kicked her hard in her abdomen, sending her flying backwards. She hit the ground and flipped over the building only to fall on the one just below their own roof. Sakura hit the roof hard and when her vision cleared it was just in time to see the Akatsuki bearing down on her with his hand holding her down by the throat.

"Stay down, little girl," he growled.

He shoved her harder into the stonework, she bit her lip to keep from crying out.

She spat in his face, "Never."

If he wasn't furious with her for that then he would have been impressed with her stubbornness. But this fight had gone on much longer than he'd anticipated and his partner was already shouting in his ear about needing to finish her off.

With a sigh he withdrew a kunai and stared at her. He really didn't want to kill her, he had actually thought she was impressive and it crossed his mind to let her live. She was young, probably a couple of years younger than himself. She was pretty, her features were what made her so interesting to him through and part of why he hadn't just killed her yet. She had such a unique shade of strawberry-blond hair that it was actually pink, but that wasn't what had held him so intrigued. It was her large round jade green eyes. They held so much fierceness that he had never seen before.

He said quietly, "I am sorry…"

Sakura's eyes widened at the realization of his words. Sending more chakra to her legs she managed to throw him over her, the action forcing him to release her neck as he went head over heels above her.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood she cursed when he just stepped off the building and shot into the air on another one of his clay birds. Stomping angrily she hadn't meant to break the roof up but the sudden debris gave her the best idea. Using the launched rubble Sakura leapt quickly into the sky and for the second time that night stood on the bird with him.

He glared at her and gave her a lip curling sneer.

Sakura spit out another mouthful of blood, wondering if he'd maybe broken a few of her ribs earlier, and pushed as much chakra as she could to her eyes. She felt the strange sensation and could see his caught off guard surprise. In his stunned shock they began to use taijutsu again, she'd received another knee to the ribs before dropping to her hands and knees. He grabbed her by the hair and forced her to look down at Gaara with a bloody and worn face.

She frowned at Gaara. They both knew that she was caught, there would be no getting out of this deadly hold, the Akatsuki had her. She saw the gleam of the kuani from the corner of her eye.

"I still won't let you hurt him," she croaked, "I won't let you take my friend."

Gaara's rose up but the Akatsuki posed the kunai above her neck with a dark glint in his eyes.

"Any last words?"

Jade eyes glared up into the icy blue with a satisfied glint. His eyes narrowed suspiciously when she raised her one hand and made a sign her recognized immediately. "… _katsu_!"

The bird beneath their feet trembled for just a second before getting insanely hot. When it exploded the sheer blast had knocked Sakura unconscious and she knew no more. The last thing she saw was Gaara crying out her name as it detonated.


	6. Chapter 6: The Kazekage's Decision

Pain.

Unbelievable pain was what Sakura had woken too. Using her chakra she deduced that most of it was caused by a bad concussion. Her left arm had been fractured and she had several deep gashes all over the place, as well as some very nasty burns.

While letting her chakra begin the healing process she turned her head carefully to the right and saw with pure horror that she was lying not three feet away from the blond Akatsuki member she'd fought with.

"Hn, you're awake."

She blinked at him. He held her stare.

"Do you remember what happened, yeah?"

The corner of his mouth had turned up at his own question. Sakura figured it was probably a stupid question, but parts of her memory were very fuzzy, especially because of the concussion.

He nodded. "You were quite the little destroyer, yeah. Would not have thought that it was possible from someone of that size."

She recognized the backwards compliment. The double meaning being that he was impressed by her strength, but only because she'd been deceptively small.

Jade eyes lowered to the small fire that crackled before him. There was a little metal tea pot sitting on the warm flames, boiling water for tea more than likely… or coffee.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked, her thoughts forming more clearly now. Sakura began to find it strange that a member of the most notorious criminal organization would just let an 'enemy' leave. Much less watch over them while they slept.

He held her gaze unwavering and she saw a flicker of curiosity in his blue ones before he answered, "I didn't want to and… I had my orders."

There was a tone of indignation when he said he had orders, but that wasn't what stuck out to Sakura. He said 'he didn't want to', the man who had tried to kill her and would have succeeded did not want to kill her. Was this a play for ransom money? Did Akatsuki maybe think that, because she was protecting the Kazekage, she meant something more to him than a body guard?

"I…" her eyes lowered to the blanket that was still covering her legs, "I don't understand."

The blond 'hmphed' in annoyance and made to cross his arms but winced, letting it fall at his side again.

"What I don't understand, yeah, is why a leaf kunoichi is all the way in Suna when our reports tell us that you should still be in Konoha. Another weird thing is that you fought to protect the Shukaku jinchuuriki, even though he tried to kill you during the chuunin exams. That is something I don't understand, un."

The pinkette wrinkled her nose. Their information was good, she'd give him that much, but if he knew that she was supposed to still be in Konoha… then that meant there was a spy amongst the leaf. Someone on the inside was reporting information.

Sakura cleared her throat, "You know so much about me and yet, I don't even know your name."

She had to remind herself that this was what she wanted, though under different circumstances. She had intended to set out and find Akatsuki after leaving Suna.

He glanced up from the small pot he was cooking on to look at her. Scanning her face he finally decided on something. "Deidara."

Without realizing it she smiled. It was small and warm, the kind of smile that Deidara had never seen before… at least, and they were never directed at him. It made him uneasy and he barely was able to hide that.

"You can call me Sakura," she responded. Carefully she held out her hand, for a second Sakura thought he wasn't going to accept it. He just stared at it with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.

She almost leapt out of her skin when the hand she shook licked her palm.

Deidara's smirk returned.

"W-What was that?!" she exclaimed, looking from her hand to his.

He held up a hand and a mouth in the center of his palm grinned, wriggling its tongue. Her mouth fell open. "Is that a _mouth_?"

Before Deidara could answer there was a sudden chakra signature just outside their cleared area. Both tensed in anticipation, ready to fight the intruder, but a second later Deidara relaxed and a second cloaked member of Akatsuki appeared. In the remaining evening light Sakura could make out dark red hair and warm chocolate brown eyes.

"She's awake," he observed quietly, making a seat beside his partner.

Deidara nodded. "She's only just started healing herself, yeah."

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch. She didn't like the sudden change in Deidara's tone, like she wasn't there.

The red haired boy turned to her, "What is your name?"

"I thought you knew everything about me?" she remarked irritated, "You don't even know my name?"

"You knew me only as the 'Mad-Bomber of Akatsuki'," commented Deidara. He started ladling the liquid he'd been cooking into three separate cups. Handing one to Sakura he added, "Drink this, it will help, un."

She didn't bring it to her lips; she didn't trust that they hadn't poisoned it while she was sleeping. He'd been cooking since before she'd woken up.

"Well, what is your name?"

The red-haired boy took a seat beside Deidara. He was much shorter than Deidara; he barely came up to his shoulder sitting. He looked even younger than him too, not much older than twelve or maybe fourteen at most.

"I am Sasori of the Red Sands," he said with an air of boredom, "But you may calm me Sasori."

"I am Sakura."

A tiny smirk pulled at the corner of Sasori's mouth. His eyes roved over her petite frame, saying, "Named after your namesake, no doubt. Such an ironically beautiful kunoichi."

Now she was really taken aback, had he just called her _beautiful_?

She looked from Deidara to Sasori.

Deidara gave an annoyed sort of sound, "I said drink, and it isn't poisoned, yeah."

After giving the blond a skeptical look Sakura sniffed the drink, sloshing it around a little before taking the smallest of sips. She couldn't help the tiny smile that spread across her lips, it was a medicinal drink. Designed for sore muscles, it was one that the Godaime had taught her when they'd first started training together.

"You seem surprised that we have no intentions of killing you," observed Sasori.

"… yet." Sakura corrected. Her jade eyes met his chocolate ones.

"You have questions for me, like why was I in Suna instead of my own village? And I have questions of my own," she began boldly, "I would assume you will keep me alive until my usefulness runs out."

Deidara narrowed his eyes. "Un, you're quite observant. However you seem to have forgotten one small thing, I told you earlier that we had our orders. Orders about you."

Her heart quickened.

"You put on quite a show, if you had stayed home like a good little girl then you probably would have flown under Akatsuki's radar for years," said Deidara, a tone of remorse in his voice, "Probably your entire life."

"When you are rested, we will bring you back to our Headquarters. We will need to move soon anyways, Suna will have dispatched ANBU to try and track us down."

Sakura swallowed the lump that'd been former in her throat replying, "That's good… because…"

"Because I want to join Akatsuki."

The cup Deidara had been holding shattered in his hand. Her curse and quickly began picking up the pieces. His reaction started Sakura. He didn't show it on his face so much as the way his chakra had flared angrily.

Her trained medical eye saw the blood drip from his hand and he reflexively reached out to grab his hand. He pulled away at her cool touch like a wounded wild animal. She didn't see the kunai, but Sakura did feel a strange and sudden pull that brought them far apart.

Sasori grunted, "Relax. Both of you."

He was giving Deidara a look of disappointment. She assumed that it was along the lines of 'if she wants to come willingly, then don't argue.'

"I didn't mean to startle you," she admitted quietly, looking at her hands, "It's just - your hand is bleeding."

"And what's it to you?" he demanded.

She felt her eyebrow twitch again.

"I was going to stop the bleeding, make sure that you didn't get any glass in your palm."

He glared angrily, "Like that's a problem. There's a mouth there, remember?"

"How could I forget? You almost ripped my throat out with it!"

There was another pull and Sakura flew backwards away from Deidara. Her body moved on its own accord. Looking around she saw Sasori had taken an odd stance; tiny blue strings were floating out from his fingertips and had attached themselves to her.

"Chakra?"

"Chakra- _strings_ ," he agreed.

"You use puppets, like Gaara's brother."

It was Sasori's turn to glare at Sakura now. "No, he uses puppets like _me_. I am older than him and besides, his techniques lack something to be desired."

Once he'd decided Deidra wasn't going to attack the pinkette he set her back down on the ground. Sakura didn't crumple to the ground, but she still felt sore all over.

"Prepare yourself, we will move out when I return."

Sasori walked off and left Sakura alone with Deidara. He was eyeing her suspiciously, almost sadly again.

"What?" she snapped.

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

He stood and moved close, she hadn't realized how much taller than her he was. His icy blue eyes began searching hers, it was a weird sensation he caused. Being this close to her, she wasn't sure why it had made her heart jumpstart again.

"Why do you want to join?"

"…oh."

She uncertainly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"If I join… if I can get accepted, I could save my team. Only I can do that."

"You intend to kill the leader of Akatsuki then?"

She did not look away from his gaze. "No. I intend to help him."

Deidara was still frowning but this time he didn't flinch away from her when she reached out for his hand. Assuming it was because of her answer, Sakura didn't care. She let the chakra flow through her own fingers and heard his breath change to relief as the deep cuts began to heal over.

"Hn. Thank you."

Sakura simply nodded before moving to the bedroll she'd been on earlier. Quickly she rolled it up and handed it over to him, it wasn't hers.

 **#**

The sun was beating down on three shinobi. Sakura felt like she was flying through the trees. Every time his feet had barely touched onto a branch she was pushing off again, the leap seemed too stretched on forever and even though she couldn't remember ever running so hard before this, she loved it.

It suddenly dawned on her that this was probably why they'd had so much trouble following or tracking the Akatsuki before now. When teams would have stopped to rest, the Akatsuki would keep moving and eventually the trails would run cold.

Sasori took the lead while Deidara was behind her, probably to make sure that she didn't bolt on them, but Sakura had no intentions of getting away. She was honest when she'd told Deidara she wanted to join the Akatsuki. Sakura had deduced that they were nearing Amegakure. It had gotten colder and wetter and having lost her cloak and scarf during her fight with Deidara in Suna, Sakura was starting to shiver.

"Two more hours," suggested Sasori. He was gazing up at the sky; Sakura could see dark rain clouds moving their direction. He added, "Leader-sama knows we're here."

"How do you know?"

Deidara chuckled, "You thought those clouds just appeared out of now where in a clear blue sky?"

She frowned.

"Prepare yourself, little cherry blossom."

Sakura glared at the back of Sasori's head. He hadn't called her by her name once. She wasn't sure why it bothered her so much, but she figured she wouldn't like herself being called 'Sakura' by the short man either.

* * *

It was not the blazing sun that woke Gaara. He was used to the heat of Suna, the rustling of wind across sands, that he had grown accustom to sleeping through, but today it had been something else. The sudden rush of foreign chakra running right towards him and his sense were practically screaming for him to wake.

Green eyes shot open and the sand around him shot upwards to form a protective wall around the Kazekage. Barely he could make out the outline of a black clothed figure – Kankuro.

"Gaara! It's me," he snapped. Kankuro waited tiredly for the sand to return to his brothers gord. "What happened? We saw the explosion but…"

Placing a hand on Kankuro's shoulder he gave his elder brother a small smile. "I am alright, they must have left right after the bird detonated – !"

Gaara began to move towards the building they had been just over. Kankuro followed with alarm written all over his purple face-painted face. His brother never acted like this before.

"Where is the girl?"

Their eyes met for a moment before Gaara scooped something up off the ground, showing it to Kankuro. "This is her scarf…"

Kankuro stared at it. He remembered the dark emerald scarf she had wrapped around the lower half of her face. It had briefly reminded him of the Copy-nin that he'd met during the Chuunin exams.

"She was wearing this last night," he looked down at Gaara who was now shifting some of the rubble, "Where is she now?"

Gaara frowned. He had a feeling he knew where she was now. He remembered he bloodly smile at him just before she herself detonated the bomb.

"More than likely she was taken with him. She's still alive, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered taking her."

Kankuro nodded but didn't say anything else. He could see Gaara was thinking about something. He was deciding something.

"I must ask something of you, something that will require a great deal of secrecy."

Kankuro's frown deepened but he stayed silent.

"Something was shared with me last night, a top secret mission that I will not share the details of, and I would like for you to keep her prescense here a secret. In my official report I will state that it was I who had fought with the Akatsuki member… _alone._ "

Understanding crossed Kankuro's face. He nodded.

Gaara looked toward the horizon, still clutching the emerald green scarf in his hand. _'If this works, you'll have saved me twice… Sakura Haruno.'_


	7. Chapter 7: We Must Keep Moving Forward

Naruto Uzumaki could be found these days lounging around his well kept apartment, a cloud of gloom and doom that hung around him. He was miserable knowing that his friend and teammate had left the village. In the end it was reported that there had been no traces of a struggle and when her bank accounts had been seized… she'd paid for his and the Uchiha's place for the next six months before draining the rest. Even to Naruto that didn't seem like a normal thing for Sakura.

Naruto had also learned that not only had she paid for his apartment for the next six months, Sakura had been maintaining it for the past few years while he was away training.

There was a knock at the door and Naruto groaned, grudgingly getting to his feet he muttered, "Go away Kakashi, I don't want to do whatever it is…"

Swinging the door open more forcefully than he'd intended, Naruto was startled to see not the silver-haired copy-nin, it was Hinata Hyūga. Her large opal eyes had widened and her face flushed the second the door opened.

"Oh, hi Hinata," greeted Naruto, trying his best to sound happy to see her. It clearly wasn't enough because he saw her face fall just a bit.

"Hello Naruto," she smiled kindly at him. "I heard you weren't feeling well – and I know how much you love Ichiaraku – so I thought…"

She trailed off timidly. Naruto lowered his gaze to her hands and saw that she was holding a large bowl of the steaming delicious food that Naruto loved.

"Why would you do this for me?"

Hinata turned even redder, if that was possible, and stuttered, "Y-you were sad… I wanted to m-make you ha-happy."

An odd feeling prickled at the back of Naruto's neck and finally he stepped aside to let Hinata into the apartment. She carefully placed the bowl down and made to leave when Naruto reached out and grabbed her arm.

Opal eyes moved from his hand holding her to his sad cerulean eyes. She could see how broken he was inside. She didn't like that look in his eyes at all. To her, this young man was supposed to be the life of Konoha, but instead he was broken inside.

"Please, stay a little?"

Carefully Hinata removed his hand from her arm and did something that shocked both of them. She hugged Naruto. It was awkward at first, Naruto was very hesitant. And then, all at once, he pulled her so close and held her to him. She felt him shaking, Hinata could feel the tears soak through her shirt.

"Sshh, it's okay," she cooed, stroking his back.

"… first Sasuke… now _Sakura_ …"

Hinata felt the pain from just saying her name. Naruto had now lost both of his teammates. Both had just left without a word, the worst part was he didn't know why she had left. At least with Sasuke he knew what Sasuke was up to.

"Just take a deep breathe, you know she had a reason," began Hinata softly, "She had to keep moving forward too. She spent all her days wondering about you both. Whatever her reasons are, you have to remember that deep down, Sakura loved her teammates. More than anything in the world."

Finally Naruto looked up and though his eyes were bloodshot from crying, the cerulean looked much brighter than probably had in days.

"Do ya really think she loved us?"

Hinata nodded, "She spent her free time doing what little she could, so when you came home, you had a home still."

He looked thoughtful for a second and finally released Hinata.

"Thank you."

A little flushed himself, Naruto took a seat at the small table and motioned for Hinata to join him. She did so a little uncertainly. In truth, Hinata had not intended to stay and assumed Naruto would still like to be left alone.

"Please, have some," he said, handing out an extra pair of chopsticks.

Accepting them both broke their sticks apart and together they began to share a meal.

* * *

Grass Country was Sasuke Uchiha's absolutely last place he wanted to be. After the incedent with Sakura he had found that more questions than answers were popping into his mind. Why was Kabuto hunting her down, why had she been so far away from Konoha?

Another thing that had been annoying him was that Sasuke could not ask either Orochimaru or Kabuto any of these questions. One reason was then he would be admitting to making contact with her. The second was much more personal and he didn't really want to admit it, Sasuke still didn't want to see her get hurt. Even as genin it was a deep rooted concern of his.

"Sasuke!"

Easily he sidestepped Karin and watched as she fell to the floor. Like always she quickly recovered and bounced back to her feet. She was grinning up at him with a loving look that Sasuke despised. He hated when she looked at him like that.

"What is it?" he asked coldly.

"Orochimaru-sama would like to see you."

Onyx eyes narrowed at this.

"Hn."

Resting his arm on his sword Kusanagi Sasuke made way through the many tunnels of Orochimaru's lair until he reached the very heart. Just before entering he activated his Sharingan, he never did trust the snake sannin.

"Aah yess, Sassssuke."

Orochimaru was grinning at him, his snakelike eyes were taking in that he had activated his kekkei genkai and that he was resting his arm on his katana.

"You wanted to see me."

"Yess, I have a little mission for you," he tossed Sasuke a small scroll, "I need you to go to the Land of Swamps. There is a Leader there who has a package for me."

Sasuke glanced over at Kabuto, "Why aren't you sending him?"

"I have something else to do," replied Kabuto, not looking up from his microscope.

He could hear the gloating in the medic-nin's voice. Sasuke remembered the last time he had visited the Land of Swamps, he couldn't wash the smell out of his clothes and ended up burning everything.

"I'll leave in a couple of hours, when just before sundown."

Orochimaru gave him an appraising look.

"I would also like for you to go alone," he smiled slyly at Sasuke, "That won't be a problem, will it?"

"Hn."

Sasuke closed the door behind him and inwardly groaned. It wasn't so much that he would have wanted to go with say: Karin or Suigetsu, but Jugo had become a good traveling companion. They worked well together and Jugo never seemed to have any ulterior motives.

 **#**

Moving as quietly as possible Sasuke managed to make it about an hour out from the Land of Swamps before the sun had begun to rise. Much to his displeasure there didn't seem to be any good spots of making a camp, so Sasuke instead leapt up onto one of the thickest branches that he could find and leaned back against the trunk of the tree.

He would rest here for a couple of hours before continuing, if there were any shinobi in the area Sasuke didn't want to be recognized. As much shinobi in his profession preferred to work during the night when it was easiest to hide, he knew that he would still be okay to walk the village, provided he kept the hood of his cloak up to hide his face.

"– I don't understand, why the Godaime wants us delivering this to Swamp again?"

Sasuke woke with a start, he hadn't realized he'd truly fallen asleep. Masking his chakra he hoped that whomever was walking below him hadn't noticed.

"She's got her reasons," said a male voice.

Sasuke stared down at a dark haired girl and boy that looked oddly familiar to him. She wore her dark hair in two Chinese-style buns with short fringe bangs that framed her face. Beside her was a long haired male with opal eyes.

An alarm sounded off in Sasuke's head and he stayed as still as possible.

"Tenten," he held out his arm and she stopped abruptly, "Do you sense anything?"

Frowning slightly, the woman seemed to be concentrating. After a minute she nodded. "Yeah, two coming from northwest in our direction, think its from Konoha?"

He gave her a look that clearly said 'no.' He activeated his kekkei genkai and Sasuke felt the urge to leap even higher.

"I – I don't believe it!"

The man seemed to grow pale.

"What? Neji what is it?" asked Tenten, shock on her face.

He met her gaze evenly, "Akatsuki."

Sasuke's stopmach felt like it had bottomed out.

Activating his own Sharingan Sasuke tried to look in the direction that he guessed they were, but he had nowhere near the abilities that the Hyūga clan did when it came to range. All the while he listened to their decision to not persue. Instead they would send scouts out to scour the Land of Swamps and maybe they'd find where the Headquarters was.

"That just leaves us with one problem…"

Neji looked straight up and stared unsurprised at Sasuke with a look of absolute indifference. Tenten made a shocked squeak and drew out a kunai from her pack.

"Sasuke Uchiha, did you really think that I wouldn't notice you sitting up there?"

"Hn. Don't you have better things to do than hang around in swamp country?"

Tenten was eyeing him just below his eyes, unlike her partner she would not just strare directly into the Sharingan unless forced too. Perhaps seeing what had happened to Kakashi Hatake during the chuunin exams was the cause for that.

"Why are you here?" she asked boldly.

Sasuke glanced at her before dropping down from the branch. He inwardly smirked when Neji took a protective stance before her.

"Can your own team not take care of themselves?"

Neji growled at the implication, stating, "We're doing a much better job thant he former Team Seven. One goes rogue, another sits around moping and the third goes missing."

Now Sasuke was the one to glower.

"Naruto doesn't just go missing."

Tenten placed a hand on Neji's arm and moved beside him. Her brown eyes searching Sasuke's uncertainly.

"Haven't you heard?" her voice became laced with concern, "Sakura… she's gone. She left Konoha."

Sasuke felt like his blood had run cold. He kept his face stoic as ever but everything inside him was screaming that that was a lie. That she was lieing to him. There was no way that Sakura, devoted kunoichi to the leaf, would just up and leave without saying a word.

"Sasuke, I know why you left, I won't say I understand your reasons but…" Neji was giving his partner a look that clearly said 'stop' but she continued, "Please look for her. At least so we can know she's okay. I want my friend back…"

"Hn."

Sasuke leapt up into the branches and began to run. He knew without a doubt that Neji would be watching him for as far as his kekkei genkai would allow.

 _'Sakura.'_

* * *

Deidara stood with Sakura outside the large doors of a huge industrial type building. Since neither of them had an umbrella and it was almost always raining in Amegakure, both were shaking and ringing out their hair and clothes to try and not catch colds.

"This is where your Headquarters are?" asked Sakura, running a hand through her hair damp hair.

"Un, the main one," he replied, "But we can't go in until Sasori-donno is done talking to Leader-sama."

Biting her lip Sakura began to fidget with the hem of her shirt. Deidara watched her curiously. This was her decision, yet she was clearly nervous.

"This was your decision, we could just as easily killed you instead."

She huffed annoyed, "The leader of Akatsuki is a formidable shinobi, I am not foolish enough to think that the second I walk in here I will not be changed for the rest of my life."

She looked up to meet Deidara's eyes.

"You should always be careful hunting monsters, lest you become one yourself, for when you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss also stares into you."


	8. Chapter 8: The Akatsuki

Sakura had been lead to a secluded room, far from the entrance of the building. She was unsurprised that they didn't bother to cover her eyes or bind her, they had assumed that two members of such an elite organization would be able to subdue and control one kunoichi without much problems. Although Sasori seemed to think that they should at least have put some chakra restraints on her, Deidara argued that it would be pointless because she came willingly.

At the moment Sakura was seated before a large mahogany desk surrounded by walls and floors of books. They stretched all the way up to the ceiling, from here should could read a few titles and quickly deduced that they were written in different languages.

A quite rustle of a cloak told Sakura that someone was approaching her from behind. Reflexively she went for her weapons pouch.

"There will be no need for violence," came the cool voice of a man.

He moved around her and took a seat behind the large desk, keeping himself mostly in shadows. The only thing Sakura could see was his short bright orange hair and the bright ringed eyes. His sheer presense alone told Sakura that if she tried anything funny he could probably kill her without breaking a sweat, maybe without moving a finger.

"I am Pein, the leader of Akatsuki."

Fingers trembling slightly, Sakura nodded her greeting. "My name is Sakura."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sakura."

Resisting the urge to fidget more Sakura crossed her leg over her knee. Her brain kept up the alarm that this was not a good place for her to be, this place was for criminals and rogue ninja. Someone like her did not belong here.

"There is much for us to discuss. Sasori gave me the details of your capture, from what I understood you came with them here willingly. Is this true?"

Swallowing the lump down, she answered, "Yes."

He nodded at her.

"You also claimed to what to speak with me and that you wish to join Akatsuki?"

"…yes."

Pein grew quite, his ringed eyes looked Sakura over again. He found it odd that she would not look away from his ringed eyes, she held his gave unwaveringly, despite her obvious fear.

"I will tell you now," he crossed his arms, "I will not allow you to join the Akatsuki."

She felt her stomach drop. Over and over she had played out each scenario she could think of, any of them that involved not joining meant death or some form worse than death.

"Please understand, we also will not kill you. I am not known for mercy, that much has been clear as you were a former shinobi of the leaf. What I will do is grant you protection. We will keep you guarded, Sasori has already informed you that Akatsuki is aware that you now posses the Sharingan eyes," he paused as this sunk in, "But that is not why we will keep you here. I would like for you to become the medic to our members."

Sakura frowned.

"So I'll be your hostage?"

There was a small tinkling laugh and Sakura looked up to see another member standing on the floor above. She was seated on the railing and watching Sakura.

"That is my partner, Konan."  
Sakura stared openly at her as she dropped down beside Pein. There had been a few rumors that a woman was part of Akatsuki, but now it was confirmed and she was the _leaders_ partner.

"You will not be our hostage, nor will you be bait. We intend to keep your existence here as quite as possible; no shinobi village will know that you are here with us."

Again Sakura felt confused. She didn't understand.

Konan adjusted the small paper rose in royal blue hair and looked down at Pein. He met her gaze and nodded.

"Please, tell us your theory about the jinchuuriki."

* * *

Running at top speeds the two Akatsuki members were on high alert. Having just barely avoided Swamp country they found themselves suddenly being tracked by ANBU.

The larger of the two, a blue skinned and shark-like shinobi grunted his dislike, "We barely finished our mission, why'd Leader call us back so early?"

Just a step behind him, his partner silently agreed.

"Itachi, do you think those two'd been successful in catching sand-brat?"

"We could have extracted the one-tail from anywhere, some else has happened."

It had been quite easy to lose their pursuers, a skilled shinobi who had been on the run like this for years had a way of perfecting that method. Moving like this was something Itachi enjoyed, it gave him time to think and at the moment all he could think about was how had someone come into position of the Sharingan eyes.

He knew that if the eyes had belonged to his brother then there would have been word that Sasuke Uchiha had been killed. Akatsuki would have heard that almost as soon as the Leaf shinobi would have. Itachi also theorized that if that were the case and they were Sasuke's eyes, his teammates would be out right now hunting down that assailant.

The second theory he had was somehow a body of a deceased Uchiha had been resurrected and the eyes were removed. Also an unlikely case because all the bodies of his family members had been cremated so there would be no remains left. It would be impossible for anyone to resurrect any one.

 _'Is there another living Uchiha out there?'_ he wondered. The third eye Itachi knew of was Kakashi Hatake's left eye. It had once belonged to a teammate of his that had died on a mission. The right eye had been destroyed in a cave in. Besides that, the eyes had been a _pair_. It was _both eyes_ and they were both working.

 **#**

Kisame pushed the entrance to the Akatsuki's hideout open and both were immediately greeted by Konan. Her dark amber eyes flashed from one to the other.

"Good, you've returned sooner than expected."

Kisame 'tck'ed and crossed his arms. "What's this about, why'd we need to get back here so quickly?"

She gave him a warning look before turning her attention to Itachi.

"Leader-sama would like for you to join him in the library," she glanced at Kisame a moment, "Alone."

"Why?" asked Kisame, a tone of concern for his partner.

"There will be a meeting later and we will discuss the changes that are going to be made, for the time being feel free to clean up and do as you please. I will expect a full mission report later this evening."

Konan turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the library, understanding that he was to follow, Itachi fell in step behind her.

The walk was rather short and as the entered the room filled with so many old books, Itachi's crimson eyes fell upon the back of a high leather chair. The occupant seemed to have stiffened at his entrance. His pace had slowed, the chakra signature he sensed seemed almost familiar… this was someone he had crossed pathes with.

"You've returned," came the voice of their leader.

"Hn."

There was a tiny huff from the chair – female.

"As you are aware, all Akatsuki members had been given the task of locating not only the jinchuuriki but also the one who now bares the Sharingan eyes," he paused as Itachi stopped just beside the chair and froze, "This young woman – "

Itachi cut Pein off with a single word, almost like a whisper, " _Sakura._ "

Konan raised her eyebrows, asking, "Have you two met before?"

Bright jade eyes were staring up at him with forced determination.

"Many many years ago, yes."

Pein nodded, "That may be helpful then. Sakura has requested that you train her to hone the abilities of the Sharingan and in return she will heal members of Akatsuki. We will also be keeping her existence a secret from all groups and especially from the shinobi villages."

Itachi was still staring at Sakura. He forced chakra through his body like it was a genjutsu, but this was not joke and she really was seated there before him. Before the leader of Akatsuki.

"Itachi, you are not the only group that was recalled back to headquarters, all the members will be here by this evening. Tonight I will hold a meeting that explains the direction Akatsuki will be heading."

"Understood," he said stoicly.

Konan shifted her weight. "Do you accept the task of training her?"

Sakura swallowed, she had only once been this close to the elder Uchiha. She wondered what would happen if Itachi said 'no' and refused to help her. Would Akatsuki still keep her around? She would become more of a neusance than helpful.

"Yes, I will train her," Itachi looked over at Pein, "But that will require a lot of my time, it could affect my missions."

He thought for a moment and then said, "With reports of your younger brother being close, it would be best to keep you here for now. If it comes to it however, she could be sent on the missions with you and Kisame."

Sakura felt herself pale slightly.

She felt Itachi shift slightly at this, she dared a glance at him and could see the tiniest traces of a scowl on his face.

"Sakura," Konan was speaking again, "We will have a room prepared for you, until it is ready please feel free to explore the building. If something is off limits it will be signed as such, do not enter an persons room without permission, and feel free to make full use of the infirmary."

Pein added, "If you feel anything is missing, make a list of items and I will have someone get them for you."

Both understood that they were dismissed, Sakura followed doggedly behind Itachi. She worried about what Pein would do with the information that Sakura had given him, if he would even trust the theory she'd come up with because she is from another village.

The door had closed and Sakura hadn't gotten two feet before being slammed into the cool metal wall. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. She refused to show even Itachi the slightest bit of weakness.

"Why are you here?" he growled.

She glared up at him. "Like they said, I need someone to train me."

"Your team leader was a Sharingan user, why not seek out him? Why drop so low as to ask me?" his eyes bore into hers searchingly.

Sakura watched his eyes begin to spin and reflexively felt chakra being sent to her eyes, that odd tingling feeling and she knew that her own Sharingan had been activated. Itachi grunted his dissatisfaction.

"The key word there _was_ , Kakashi is no longer my teacher. He had stopped training me as soon as the chuunin exams were over," she shot back, "I came to you because that's what I was told to do."

An old and faded image of a small girl in a dark red kimono flashed across his mind. He stepped back but continued to eye her suspiciously. "I need your help, you're the only one I can trust enough to do it."

This was not what Itachi had planned. She changed everything.

"Again, why are you here?"

Her shoulders fell just a little, "Because, I'm the only one who can do this. I'm the only one who could complete this mission I've given myself."

The crimson color of faded and she looked up into his crimson eyes again with those big jade green ones. Itachi remembered those eyes. He could see a sad determination in them, that look that reminded him of himself.

"I'm not a spy," she whispered, "I'm not going to report to Konoha, or Suna, or any of the villages. The only way I can protect them is by me coming here, training with you, a fair trade. My life… for theirs."

Finally Itachi truly took in the girl before him. Not the child or the genin he could see. This was a broken girl who had made the hardest decision of her life. Sakura had chosen to become a villain in order to save the lives of many, something Itachi could relate to on many levels.

* * *

Darkness had fallen but it was still raining. Sakura assumed it was always raining here, a village known as Hidden Rain, it probably rained all the damn time. Since it was pouring she felt so gloomy, it was not helping to improve her mood. Neither had trying to find the infirmary, she had no clue where that would be and there wasn't a single body around to help her either.

On the off chance, she hoped to get lucky and find maybe Konan in the library again, but when she knocked there wasn't anyone there. All the lights had been extinguished and it was now dark and dim.

"You look lost, yeah."

Sakura practically jumped out of her skin, she whipped around to glare at the smug face of Deidara.

"No… I just got turned around."

"Mm."

He motioned for her to follow and Sakura did so. She noticed that he was no longer wearing his Akatsuki cloak, she was surprised to see him this way. Sakura then guessed that most of the members didn't wear their cloaks around inside their own headquarters, where they'd be safest.

"Hn, you wanted to come here, right?"

Peaking around him Sakura smiled slightly, he'd brought her to the infirmary. He opened the door for her – which did honestly surprise her – and they entered together.

"Konan normally treats the worse wounds, but…" Sakura could see that just from Deidara's expression, Konan was not a medical kunoichi.

"Since we're here, why don't you sit down. I can give you a once over real quick."

Deidara was taken aback. Sakura tilted her head and grabbed his arm – his bad arm – to hold him in place. Sakura almost smirked when he grunted in pain. She was not fooled by his egotistical methods. She knew his arm was still injured from their fight, he was just too proud to say it.

"Sit," she pointed at the wooden chair, "Over there. Please."

Once she released his arm Deidara grudgingly moved across the room and took a seat. Carefully she pushed the sleeve of his shirt up and frowned. Oddly enough the swelling was down a lot, but there were still large purple and black splotches covering his skin.

She was about to place a glowing hand to his forearm when he caught her wrist. Sakura held his icy blue eyes for a moment, trying to read his face. "It will feel strange at first, the chakra used to inspect injuries is different. Just bare with me okay?"

He didn't release her wrist, but finally asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sakura understood immediately that the question was not about healing his arm, it was about being here. Being with the Akatsuki.

"Thank you… Deidara."

He grunted and released her hand.

The actual healing process took much less time than she'd thought. Either he knew a least some medical ninjutsu or had found a doctor somewhere earlier today since they'd arrived.

She was just about finished when the door opened and the red-haired shinobi, Sasori, entered. He was looking between the two curiously.

"Deidara, they're calling a meeting," he said boredly.

"The zombie twins finally back then?" asked Deidara, not moving.

Sakura couldn't stop herself from giggling at that. Deidara looked up at her with an odd expression, she said quickly, "You're arm, it's all done."

Patting it gently she watched him rotate his wrist, stretch it and with a faint smile he thanked Sakura.

"Cherry Blossom, you are to wait in the library until Konan comes for you," added Sasori. She nodded, "I trust you remember how to get there?"

Deidara spoke up before she could reply, "Un, turn left out of here and it's the fifth door on the left, yeah."

They shared a look and Sakura didn't stop her smile, nor did Deidara hide his smirk.

* * *

All nine of the Akatsuki members were seated around a round table, Pein was seated between Konan and Itachi.

It was the rarest and strangest thing to see all of Akatsuki assembled, but as they entered the room each seemed to have an assigned seat. Pein, Konan, Sasori, Deidara, Kakazu, Hidan, Zetsu, Kisame,Itachi (who sat on the other side of Pein).

"You have all returned," stated Pein. The command in his voice silenced everyone.

The man seated across from Pein ran a hand threw his greasy white hair, his red eyes glaring maliciously at their leader. He spoke up first, "What the fuck is this all about?"

"Language, Hidan," commented Konan. Her expression was neutral, but her amber eyes gleamed.

"Fuck off, nobody else cares sweetheart."

Konan didn't need to respond. She and everyone else could feel the dark aura radiating from Pein.

"Enough," he growled, "There is much to discuss and Hidan."

He was giving the man across from him a pointed look, "After this meeting, you and I will be discussing your latest mission."

"Asshole," he muttered under his breath.

Deidara rolled his eyes.

"We had received intel that an experiment of Orochimaru's had escaped from his own hideout, our sources explained that this particular person had had the Sharingan eyes infused with their own in hopes of making a better Sharingan user."

Kisame spoke up, "So we're not just hunting down the jinchuuriki, you want us to find this guy that has the Sharingan too?"

Pein shook his head.

"We've already found her," replied Sasori, resting his head on his hand.

"Yeah, she's here now," added Deidara.

There was a stunned silence that passed over the few Akatsuki members who didn't known. Kisame looked annoyed that the two art freaks knew before he did, even Itachi looked unsurprised by this. _'Was this what earlier was about?_ ' wondered Kisame.

"A female?" asked Zetsu.

"Yes," silence fell again and Pein started, "I have discussed many things with her. She will be staying here and we will keep her under servailance."

Zetsu asked another question. "Who is she?"

Itachi spoke, "Sakura Haruno, formerly of the Hidden Leaf."

Beside him Itachi could feel Kisame staring right at him, he wasn't bothering to hide the obvious surprise and he knew Kisame was about to ask him a series of questions as soon as this meeting was over.

"Hidden Leaf? Where the 9-tails lives?" asked Kakazu.

Pein cleared his throat and looked over at Zetsu.

"I am assigning everyone here new missions, Zetsu, I would like for you to infiltrate and find out what you can on Orochimaru and what he is up to. This is strictly infultry and there should be no bloodshed."

"Understood."

"Then you are dismissed, you will leave at sunset."

He then turned to Kakazu and Hidan, "You're to enter the Land in the Clouds."

Kakazu's expression brightened, "Excellent. Say no more, Leader-san."

"You leave in two hours, dismissed."

Like Zetsu, the partners Hidan and Kakazu left the room. Hidan could be heard slinging a couple curse words as soon as they opened the door.

"For you two, Itachi, Kisame, you're to train Sakura," he then looked to Deidra, "As your arm is still injured from the fight, I will have you act as Sakura's guardian. Make sure that she has not left the premise."

"Please, keep her away from Hidan too," added Konan.

Deidara looked down at his now uninjured arm and frowned a little. He met Pein's ringed eyes and said, "She healed it."

Kisame gave him a confused look, "Healed what?"

"My arm, yeah."

Only Konan and Itachi seemed to be unsurprised by this action.

"Why?" wondered Sasori.

"Interesting, did she give you her reasoning?"

Deidara shook his head.

Pein nodded slowly.

"The rest of you are to stay here in Ame, I have no further missions at this time."

Understanding themselves to be dismissed, all but Konan left the room. Konan watched her partner and once the door shut she gave him a small smile.

"If, if what she is suggesting works, will you ceise the hunt for the jinchuurki?"

He gave her a look that said everything she needed to know. Getting to her own feet, Konan let her hand brush against this shoulders as she walked around the table and left the room as well.


	9. Chapter 9: Still My Best Friend

Darkness had finally descended the small town just outside of the Fire Countries boarders. At the very outskirts of the town a cloaked young man could be seen entering. He was alone and appeared to have a destination. The few people around paid him no mind, assuming him to be a shinobi, the townspeople kept their heads down.

The small bar he'd been looking for came into view, seated in the far corner was another man that was also cloaked. Allowing his hood to fall backwards, Naruto Uzumaki didn't bother to hide the grin he was wearing.

"Been a long time, Teme," he greeted, taking a seat across from Sasuke.

"Dobe," he replied irritated.

Naruto thanked the waitress after she took his order and gave his full attention to Sasuke. He looked older now, still taller than Naruto. Sasuke looked tired, almost like he hadn't been sleeping lately.

"What's this about?" Naruto finally asked.

Sasuke continued to give him a long and calculated look. "I need to know… what happened with Sakura."

He watched Naruto's face fall completely fall and that was when Sasuke knew. It was like something solid had begun to form inside his chest, seeing the truth written on his former teammates face. In Sasuke's mind he could still see the scared girl he'd seen only two weeks ago.

"… she just," he looked Sasuke right in the eyes. "Do you know anything? Have you seen her?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to really take in his friend. Sasuke seemed so… lost? Like a part of him was missing now. It wasn't a look that Naruto had seen before on him. _'Had something happened between them?'_ wondered Naruto.

"When was the last time you'd seen her?"

"Just after our fight, before you left," admitted Naruto.

Both fell silent, the waitress set their drinks down and hurried away. The aura that Sasuke was giving off clearly told everyone that they wanted to be left alone.

"Why did you want me to meet you?"

Sasuke 'tcked'. "Because, dobe, you're her teammate. You're the only one who should know her best."

Naruto glared pointedly at the younger Uchiha. "You know, Sasuke, you're her teammate too. If anything, _you_ should know her better than _me_. _You're_ the one she was always partnered up with, _not me_."

They glared at one another. Sasuke didn't want to admit that Naruto was probably right about that, he should be the one to know Sakura best. After being a team, being the one to make sure she didn't get hurt, Sasuke did know Sakura. He knew her very well. She cared about her teammates. She cared about Naruto, Kakashi, even himself.

"Sakura wouldn't have just left without a reason," commented Naruto, swirling the ice in his glass, "She way too smart. Sasuke, if there's anyone who can figure out what's going on, it's you."

"That's why I'm trying to do," he practically snapped.

Sasuke was sure she'd gotten brought back to Konoha, he purposefully let some of his chakra flair when he'd been close to the boarder to alert the patrols. Anyone would have sensed him from miles away.

"All I know is that Orochimaru had her, that's all anyone knew but not even Tsunade-baachan knows what happened. You would know better than anyone what goes on around Orochimaru though," there was a darkness in Naruto's voice, "If that snake bastard hurt Sakura-chan…"

Sasuke's head had snapped towards Naruto.

"She was there? He had her?"

It was Naruto's turn to look surprised. "You didn't know?"

"I'm rarely at the hideout."

They shared a look of uncertainty. The gears in Sasuke's head were turning though. Whatever was going on, it involved the snake sannin that much he was sure of.

Sasuke began slowly, "I will find out what I can, but…"

Again the image of the frightened pinkette formed in his mind, he could still feel her hand tightening in his cloak as she clung to him. That was Sasuke's first encounter with anyone from his life as a leaf shinobi and it was all by chance. He wouldn't admit it to Naruto, he would not tell him –

Naruto let out a laugh, his cerulean eyes bright with sadness and he scratched the back of his head. "It's ironic, really, I promised Sakura-chan that I would bring you back to the village. Who would have thought I'd have to bring her back too."

He quickly looked away, it was in his voice. Part of Naruto was broken inside.

"I'll find," Sasuke said it with such finality. " _I_ will bring Sakura back."

After that the two ate in silence then paid for their meal and left.

Naruto stood beside Sasuke, facing the direction of Konoha. Their dynamic was different, they understood each other a little better now. Naruto wasn't sure what was going to happen, he wasn't sure what made the teme contact him in the first place, but here they stood.

Sasuke gave Naruto a sideways look. "You need me to walk you home?"

He grimaced, glaring at Sasuke now.

"You followed me! How was I supposed to know we'd be heading in the same direction?!" he shouted.

* * *

Some five miles out, Sasuke finally stopped to take a quick rest. Leaning his head back against a tree he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

 _'Sasuke-kun! Come on!'_ cried a familiar voice, _'We don't want to be late!'_

 _'Don't pull so hard, we'll be fine,'_ he'd grumbled.

The voice laughed girlishly, cheeks flushing when he realized that she was still holding his hand.

 _'We made it,'_ the voice laughed again, flashing a bright triumphant smile. She was beaming up at him with so much joy. She'd made him forget what today was, made him forget that it was the anniversary of his families death.

Opening those dark onyx eyes, Sasuke looked up at the night's sky and made up his mind. Whether or not he ever fulfilled his mission of revenge, the one thing that matter more was making sure Sakura found her home.

* * *

"Naruto-kun?!"

Hinata Hyūga had given a start at the sudden appearance of the blond shinobi… in her bedroom. A couple of seconds passed by before both their faces flushed a deep shade of crimson out of embarrassment. Naruto quickly covered his face with his hands, finally registering what he'd just done.

"I-I am so s-sorry!" he stammered.

Quickly Hinata finished pulling her lavender sweater over her head.

Activating her Byakugan she looked to see if any of her family members had heard her cry out. Out in the grounds her cousin was training with his teammate, Tenten, and even farther away she found her younger sister Hanabi speaking with their father.

"Are you alright?" she inquired nervously.

He was wearing his traveling cloak; he also had a few scratches on his cheek. She wondered if he'd just gotten back from a mission.

"I just… I just felt like I should come here, ya know?" Naruto looked up at Hinata with an odd look. It wasn't the same expression he'd been wearing the other day. This one was different. He looked worried and uncertain, "I don't really understand."

Cautiously Hinata reached out her hand and held Naruto's arm. When he didn't pull away she guided him to her bed and had him sit down.

"I did something, more like met with someone…"

He was being very vague, she could tell that whatever it was that had happened really concerned him. He was still back wherever he had been.

Those big cerulean blue eyes began to water, she watched as a single tear fell down her cheek. Quickly she pulled him into a tight hug, unaware of his head now resting more on her bosom rather than her shoulder. Naruto didn't seem to notice either; he clung to her like he had when she brought him ramen.

"I will try my best to understand, I'll listen," she told him quietly.

He let out a long breath he'd been holding and Naruto just held onto her as he said, "I met with Sasuke."

Silence.

Hinata stared at the top of Naruto's head, eyes wide with shock.

"H-How was th-that?" she stuttered.

Naruto gave the tiniest of shrugs. "I didn't kill him… he's – I can't really believe this – he was askin' about _Sakura_."

Just in the way that he'd said her name, like it was poison. She couldn't stop her heart from skipping an involuntary beat.

"Maybe he'll be able to find her," she inquired hopefully.

"I-I don't know if I want to see her again though, she abandoned Konoha… shouldn't I hate her for it?"

"Do you hate Sasuke for it?"

Naruto looked up at her, "It's different with Sasuke. We're like brothers."

Hinata was a little annoyed now.

"And Sakura is like your sister, she'd been there for you when no one else could. Don't you think that she deserves the same respect that you give Sasuke?" Naruto sat up down and finally saw the unhappy look she was giving him, the disappointment in her big opal eyes, "I think, maybe you should leave, Naruto."

His gaze dropped to the ground.

Hinata reached out and turned his head up towards hers, "But, when you're ready to talk, I will keep your secret. Okay?"

Naruto gave her a small smile and nodded. He understood now what she meant. Quietly Naruto thanked Hinata, and then with a small 'poof' he was gone.

She smiled softly at the spot where he'd been seated a moment ago before a sudden through crossed her mind.

"When did Naruto put a teleportation seal in my room?!"


	10. Chapter 10: A Night At The Bar

It was around seven in the morning when Sakura found herself being awoken by an extremely loud banging outside her door. The noise had startled her so badly that she'd practically leapt out the window.

"What the fuck…"

Still half asleep Sakura padded over to the door and threw it open to see Deidara, looking equally disheveled and Sasori having a heated argument. A large brown package lay abandoned at their feet.

"Why would you think I wanted this now?! It's seven in the morning!" growled Deidara.

Sasori on the other hand looked totally awake, completely dressed in his usual black shirt and khaki carpi pants.

"It was just waiting in the kitchen, I was tired of waiting on you to wake up and get it."

"Why are you up so early, yeah?!"

Yawning, Sakura leaned against the frame of her own bedroom door and nodded, "I also would like to know that. Don't you people ever, I don't know, sleep in?"

The arguing pair turned to look at Sakura. Immediately Deidara's cheeks flushed pink whereas Sasori looked unphased. Sasori noted, "Cute pajamas."

"Screw off."

Deidara snorted, Sakura watched him from the corner of her eye. Bending down and scooping up the heavy looking parcel and bringing it to his room. She couldn't help but notice the muscles in his arms.

"See something you like, hm?"

She smirked.

"And if I do?"

Deidara came back from inside his room and crossed the hallway. He stopped right in front of her; she could feel his breath against her face as he bent down to her eye level. His blue eyes bore into hers mischievously.

Sakura smirked and took a step forward, closing the gap. She could feel her chest brush against his bare one. "What're you going to do about it… hm?"

Unable to resist smirking at her taunting play on words.

"Enough you too."

Turning to look at Sasori, Deidara noticed the odd glint of annoyance in his eyes and maybe, could there be jealously too. He wondered if Sasori was jealous of how easily his partner could speak with the new Akatsuki member. Who wasn't even really a member, not really.

Sakura stepped back with a bored expression, "Whatever, I'm going back to bed."

She let the door close behind her and Deidara gave Sasori an annoyed look.

"Yeah, do you have a problem?"

Chocolate brown eyes hardened, "Stay away from the Cherry Blossom."

That was all he said before leaving Deidara alone in the hallway.

 **#**

An exceptionally loud crash of thunder awoke Sakura from her sleep. Looking around the room she quickly located the window and saw that it was raining even harder than ever. She watched it for a moment before quickly getting dressed and heading down the hallway.

Something felt wrong; even now Sakura could tell that something had happened. Her instincts were right; it was in the kitchen where she found a very angry looking Pein. For about two seconds Sakura considered running back down the hallway and hiding under her covers, but she was a kunoichi and a damn good one at that.

"Pein-san…"

He looked up at Sakura and she held her ground and allowed herself to keep looking him in the eyes.

"Are you alright?"

He gave her a reproachful look. "Are you speaking in the mental or physical states? There is a difference."

 _'Well if you're going to get a psychological on me,'_ thought Sakura with annoyance. She said, "Both. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I do not enjoy being lied to, Sakura."

"I don't think any one likes being lied to, honestly," she replied reflexively, not thinking.

Quickly Sakura covered her mouth and stared wide eyed at him. Those ringed eyes narrowed just a fraction.

"I-I mean –"

Pein sighed and rose to his feet.

"It's just that," she continued to try and recover herself, "I don't know who's lying to you, but – if you wanted – I am a good listener. Maybe I can help you?"

He gave Sakura another appraising look before his expression softened, just a fraction. "Do you know much about politics?"

It was Sakura's turn to be taken aback. She truthfully knew very little, nothing more than theories she'd read in books.

"A little."

"Make yourself some breakfast then join me in the library, as you eat we will discuss."

Pein made to leave when Sakura quickly asked, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I never eat breakfast."

She frowned, "It's the most important meal of the day. Would you like me to make you something?"

It almost sounded like he snorted with amusement, though Sakura couldn't really tell. He left the room and Sakura began rummaging through the kitchen making her breakfast. She'd learned a lot when her boys had left, she'd spent more times with her friend Ino, but most of her time was spent at the hospital and those associated with it like Shizune.

Scrambling eggs she remembered Shizune teaching her. The young medical kunoichi had taught Sakura many things, that when Sakura learned that her sensei, Tsunade, didn't know how to cook at all. It was actually part of the reason why she drank so much as well as ate out all the time.

"Mm, smells good," Sakura turned to see Deidara entering the kitchen, "Didn't think you could cook, un."

"She was partners with my brother; of course she knew how to cook."

Sakura wiped around to see Itachi and his partner Kisame standing there. His dark onyx eyes had met with hers for just a second longer than Sakura liked and she turned her back to them and continued cooking.

"Naruto actually did most of the cooking on missions," she remarked coolly.

She heard him make a small amused sound and glancing at the reflection in the microwave Sakura saw that Itachi had taken a seat at the table rather than the small island counter with Deidara.

"What'cha makin', pinky?"

Looking up at Kisame she was almost shocked at how quietly he had crossed the room, despite his monstrous size and animalistic demeanor.

"Scrambled eggs, I wanted to make some bacon too…"

Kisame nodded. "I'll make it."

Understanding what he was implying Sakura cracked a few more eggs and quickly her little breakfast became an entire meal. She listened quietly to Kisame and Deidara, they had more in common than she would have thought.

"There you boys go, dig in!"

Sakura had made up two plates and was about to walk out when Deidara called out, "Where are you going, hm?"

He looked a little upset that she wasn't about to join them for the breakfast.

"I agreed to meet with Leader-san in the library," she replied calmly, "But when we're done, could you show me around town? I need some new clothes."

Kisame snickered. "You're such a girl."

"That a problem, fish face?"

"Oh ho! Pinky's got a tongue on her, cleaver little girl."

Her brow twitched, she hated being called a little girl.

"Be careful I don't chop off yours then," she remarked dryly.

Sakura left and Deidara glanced up at Kisame and saw he had an expression mixed with surprise and something dirty.

"Whatever you're thinking, please stop, yeah," suggested Deidara.

Kisame looked at him and laughed but said no more. Only Itachi had remained silent.

* * *

Sakura found herself wandering the halls of the Headquarters when a beautiful melody came drifting down from a room she'd never entered before. She'd been told that no rooms were off limits, except for the Akatsuki member's personal rooms, which she could enter only if given permission.

The door was half open, so she elected to peak, it was an elegant room. There was a large brown leather sofa placed at an angle. Peering in further her eyes widened, Kisame was seated at a beautiful black piano with bright ivory keys.

"You can come in, pinky," he called, not turning to look at her. Sakura was unsurprised by this, she did it too. You could tell just by the type of chakra signature one had who it was.

Entering, Sakura didn't go to the couch like Kisame had expected. Instead Sakura took the seat on the bench next to him and watched in amazement at how his fingers danced across the keys.

"… it's beautiful," she whispered.

"The piano belonged to my grandmother, she always instead I learn."

Sakura had the funny image of Kisame playing for an old shark woman. "Was she the one who taught you?"

He nodded.

Not wanting to be intrusive she stopped asking questions. She knew that it sometimes could get annoying, she wasn't sure if he would tell someone he once considered (maybe still did) an enemy so much personal things about herself.

"I used to play for her every Sunday evening before she passed away," he explained in the same quiet voice, "She raised me."

"Where is she now?"

Kisame didn't hesitate on the keys when he said, "She died. After a while, our gills stop working properly, she suffocated."

He looked down at her and saw the sadness in her big jade eyes. It wasn't pity like he'd gotten from the villagers in Mist. This was genuine remorse, for someone she didn't even know. "Don't go giving me that puppy dog look, pinky."

"I am truly sorry, I understand what that's like," she replied. Sakura got to her knees and with a meaningful look to Kisame, pulled his collar down a bit. "You see, both my parents were shinobi of the leaf. They were killed around my seventh birthday."

Her hand began to glow and she kept her grip firm so Kisame wouldn't flinch away, and she let her chakra enter the skin. Gills were not something Sakura had ever really worked on or even accessed before.

Kisame squirmed a little now; he'd stopped playing and was watching her so closely from the corner of his eye. She gave him a small reassuring smile.

"My grandmother raised me too, she never wanted me to be a part of any of this," Sakura chuckled lightly, "And then, all of a sudden she died. I remember my team holding my hands and the funeral… Naruto even said a few – albeit tacky – words."

In his own mind he pictured that blonde boy in the orange jumpsuit standing on the casket saying something absolutely terrible. He could also see Sakura laughing despite how sad she was and figured that was more than likely the blond's goal.

"I know he did it to cheer me up."

She lowered her hand and smiled at him.

"It looks like something similar to what happens to the Sharingan when you use it too much, there's a chakra build up and it begins to slowly clog the airways," she smiled at his surprised face, "Would you be okay if I did a little research on it? I could probably prevent it from happening quite so soon."

Kisame stared at her for a moment, weighing his options.

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

"You do your research on Sunday evenings."

Sakura grinned.

"I think I could manage that."

She patted his arm and was halfway to the door when something popped into Kisame's head; he turned and asked, "You said your parents were shinobi, that they were killed. Do you know who it was?"

Sakura smiled sadly at him.

"Yeah, I do."

There was a long pause that had begun to make even Kisame feel a little uneasy. It was the odd look in her eyes, _confliction_.

"Kizashi, my Father, was a medic-nin. Mebuki, my Mother, was a taijutsu specialist. They'd been on their way back from a mission when they came across a massacre. Being shinobi, they quickly searched the area for the assailant and… their bodies were found amongst all the fallen Uchiha."

Kisame stared at her. The implication was quite clear.

He cautiously asked, "Did Itachi kill your parents?"

Again Sakura paused.

Finally she said, "I don't know, it's been so long ago… it's not that I don't care, but I want to leave it in the past where it belongs. I cannot say that he did, there was no one their but a traumatized Sasuke and how was I supposed to ask him if his brother killed my parents too?"

* * *

Itachi had been deliberately avoiding the pink haired kunoichi as much as possible since breakfast. It him more than he thought it would, her presence awakened something in him that had lain dormant for over ten years now. Something he hadn't felt except for when he was near his own little brother.

Since breakfast he could still feel her cool aura towards him for mentioning his younger brother. He assumed her other issue with him was the fact that she had been raised as a shinobi of the leaf and was told from a young age that he himself was an evil shinobi. She was also biased in her opinion of him because she'd been teammates with Sasuke, his younger brother that still wants to see him dead.

Another issue that Itachi was trying to figure out was whose eyes did Sakura now possess. That he knew of, there are no living Sharingan users other than himself and his younger brother. IF she does not have Sasuke's or his own, whose eyes are they? All the eyes were destroyed.

"Itachi?"

Coming out of his internal debate Itachi stared right into Sakura's big jade eyes. She looked nervous about something.

"What is it Sakura?"

"W-would you want –"

"Oi, Itachi!"

Both turned to see Kisame bounding over towards them. From here Sakura could tell that he'd been drinking. Although it didn't look like he was drunk, just barely tipsy.

"What is it?" asked Itachi.

Kisame grinned at them both, "Excellent, you're here too pinky. Group of us was headed into town, care for a drink?"

Itachi looked down at Sakura then back to Kisame and nodded. "Sakura, will you be joining us as well?"

"She better, un."

She smirked as Deidara moved to stand next to Sakura. She was looking at Deidara and didn't see the clouded look that Itachi was giving the blond.

"It's decided then. We'll meet downstairs in ten."

Sakura asked, "Who else is going?"

Deidara's smile fell a little, Kisame answered, "Sasori's going to meet up later."

Shrugging, Sakura turned back to Itachi. "Would you walk with me, I still wanted to talk to you real quick. If that's okay?"

"Hn."

Deidara felt her nudge him just a bit before walking down the hallway with Itachi.

No one else seemed to notice the tiniest hint of blush that appeared on the blond shinobi's cheeks.

 **#**

The bar was crowded and noisy, even the rain wasn't able to keep the townsfolk indoors at the end of the night. She was unsurprised by the roughness of the patrons, this part of Ame seemed to be a tough neighborhood and the only thing that stopped them the people from fighting back when Kisame _commandeered_ a table in the back was the fact that all four plus Sakura gave off dangerous auras.

The group of gentlemen that had been persuaded to leave by a not so kind Kisame, before they were completely gone however one of them grabbed Sakura by the arm and pulled her into his side. Pressing her hard against his pudgy body.

Caught off guard and entirely shocked. Sakura did the only natural thing that came to her mind. She grabbed the guy by the wrist and flipped him over her body and slammed him to the floor with a thud.

"Fucking bitch –"

The buddy of the guy Sakura had dropped never finished his sentence. Sakura had practically slammed his fist into his face and he dropped too. Promptly the rest of their buddies grabbed the two injured friends and scurried out of the bar while the other occupants pretended wisely not to notice anything.

Deidara remained standing and let Sakura slide into the booth before him so she could sit between both him and Sasori.

"You always that friendly?" inquired Kisame as he waved down a barmaid.

Sakura snorted. "Guys lucky I didn't snap his neck. The nerve of some people."

Though as she said this Itachi noticed that she didn't move when Deidara threw both his arms on the back of the booth, one falling directly behind her. There was a mischievous glint in the blond's eyes that made the elder Uchiha suddenly want Sakura to be sitting next to him instead. Not because he himself wanted to make a move, but because he didn't want Deidara too.

When the sake arrived, the five of them began to drink, heavily. All of them, even Itachi to her honest surprise, knew how to handle their liquor. She was beginning to have more fun that she'd had in the longest time, laughing at jokes, talking about some of the more ridiculous things that had happened on missions.

"– And then Naruto fell forward and they kissed!"

Roaring with laughter, Sakura couldn't help the tear that fell down her face. The memory made her feel so melancholy about the entire situation.

"How about a drinking contest, pinky?"

She quirked an eyebrow at the fish man. "You're on."

Quickly Sakura learned that Sasori had the lowest tolerance and within the hour he had passed out and began to snore softly. Deidara would occasionally smack his partner upside the head in attempt to quell his snore; Sakura would have considered using her own medical skills but was a little preoccupied at the moment.

Across from her Itachi was giving her a knowing look, he knew exactly what she was up to. Sakura was a medic after all, using her chakra she easily sped up her metabolism and liver, rapidly burning off the alcohol. She couldn't do it forever, to continue for too long would damage her organs but it made an entire difference when going against a beast like Kisame.

"Un, how the hell are you doing this?" questioned Deidara, gesturing with one of his hands to the amounts of bottles on their table. Deidara hadn't had nearly as much as Sakura and Kisame but was looking more intoxicated than Itachi across from them. She drunkenly thought that the flush of his cheeks was rather cute.

Sakura grinned at him. "Practice."

She did another shot, looking at the shark-nin as she did so. Sakura felt warm, relaxed and her body unconsciously had begun to sway with the music of the band that was playing. It was unlike anything she had heard before and she found herself wanting to dance.

"You should be on the floor, yeah," added Deidara, leaning his head back.

The music had gotten louder, or she was just letting it drown out her table's conversation, her heavily intoxicated mind couldn't tell anymore. After a moment Sakura slid from the booth, across Deidara's lap and a little unsteadily got to her feet.

"Where you goin' pinky?" slurred Kisame, unable to follow her movements.

Dismissively waving her hand over her shoulder, Sakura let the music carry her away. She continued to the center of the tavern, swaying and swinging with the music her hips moved on their own to the sensual music she'd never heard before. There was a sudden dark aura that grew from the back of the bar, where she knew the men she came with were seated.

She dared a glance at the table and smiled drunkenly when she saw that Kisame was finally unconscious from all the alcohol he'd consumed. The other two however had their eyes glued to her lithe frame.

Jade met with icy blue eyes and she felt secretly pleased, Sakura liked the way that he was looking at her, liked the way he watched her hips swirl. The thrill of his obvious interest.

Deidara was on his feet in an instant and without saying anything he wrapped an arm around her waist and spun her around. She leaned back as he dipped her low. He was smirking at her in such a predatory way that sent a sharp chill down her spine. Without thinking about what she was doing of what the after effects would be, Sakura began to move her body just a tiny bit more sensually than before.

He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Having fun?"

She leaned into him, "Are you?"

For a second she thought he was going to kiss her, but then he dipped her low to the ground again and Sakura, to tipsy to care, laughed and grinned up at the blond.

When the song finally ended they returned to their table and Sakura leaned her head tiredly against Deidara's shoulder. Itachi looked between the two with an unreadable expression.

Wrongly Deidara assumed the Uchiha to be jealous that the pinkette had seemingly chosen him instead. That was not the case, however, and Itachi knew that he needs to figure out exactly what was going on with him. The return of Sakura to his life had been unexpected and the dormant feeling he harbored for his younger sibling seemed to be reacting to Sakura now too.


End file.
